High-resolution optical disk for recording stereoscopic video, optical disk reproducing device, and optical disk recording device

ABSTRACT

An optical disk for recording stereoscopic videos and high-quality video signals and a system for reproducing the videos and signals from the optical disk are made compatible with the conventional video reproducing system. A reproducing device which is used for reproducing stereoscopic videos and high-quality videos obtains stereoscopic video or high-quality videos by reproducing both first and second interleaved blocks on the optical disk in which first and second video signals are alternately recorded on the left and right sides by dividing the first and second video signals into frame groups of one GOP or more and a reproducing device which is not used for reproducing the stereoscopic videos and high-quality videos obtains ordinary videos by only reproducing either the first or second interleaved block by jumping tracks.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/284,727, filed Oct. 31, 2002 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,747,145, which is aDivisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/125,885 filed Aug. 27,1998 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,574,423 which is a U.S. National PhaseApplication of PCT International Application PCT/JP97/00615 filed Feb.28, 1997 the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein byreference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an optical disk in which stereoscopicvideos and high-quality videos are recorded, and a reproducing deviceand a recording device of such optical disk.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Hitherto, as an optical disk in which stereoscopic moving picture isrecorded, and its reproducing device, the structure as shown in FIG. 10is known. Herein, in an optical disk 201, right-eye signals are recordedalternately in even-field regions 204, 204 a, 204 b, and left-eyesignals, in odd-field regions 203, 203 a, 203 b. When such optical disk201 is reproduced by an existing optical disk reproducing device 205 asshown in FIG. 11, the right-eye images and left-eye images appear on aTV 206 alternately in every 1/60 second. With the naked eye, only theright-eye and left-eye images appear to be a duplicate image. However,when observed through stereoscopic goggles 207 for changing over theright-eye and left-eye shutters once in every 1/60 second, astereoscopic image is seen. As shown in FIG. 12, the right-eye image andleft-eye image are alternately encoded in every field in the interlacesignals in one GOP of MPEG signal. As high-quality videos, theprogressive system is being studied.

Problems in the prior art are discussed. When a conventionalstereoscopic optical disk is reproduced in a standard reproducingdevice, an ordinary image which is not stereoscopic image, that is, 2Dimage is not delivered. A stereoscopic optical disk cannot be reproducedby a reproducing device unless a stereoscopic display is connectedthereto. It was hence necessary to fabricate two types in the samecontents, that is, a stereoscopic optical disk and a 2D optical disk. Itis the same for high-quality videos. That is, the conventionalstereoscopic and high-quality optical disks were not compatible withordinary videos. A purpose of the invention is described below. It is apurpose of the invention to present a mutually compatible stereoscopicand high-quality optical disk and a reproducing system. As thedefinition of compatibility is clarified, the compatibility may be justcompared to the relation between the monaural record and stereo recordin the past. That is, a new stereoscopic optical disk is reproduced as amono-vision, that is, 2D with an existing reproducing device, and isreproduced as either mono-vision or stereo-vision, that is, stereoscopicvideo with a new reproducing device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To achieve the object, in the optical disk of the invention, first, twomoving pictures for right and left eye at a frame rate of 30 frames/seceach are entered, a video data unit is compiled by combining one GOP ormore of images of plural frames of video data of one eye or fieldcomponents of progressive image, an interleaved block consisting of saidvideo data unit is provided so that one video data unit is recorded byone revolution or more on the track of the optical disk, the right andleft video data units are recorded so as to be interleaved, that is,disposed alternately, and information of video identifier ofstereoscopic video and high-quality video is recorded.

When this optical disk is played back in an optical disk reproducingdevice for ordinary 2D reproduction, an ordinary 2D moving picture isreproduced.

The reproducing device applicable to stereoscopic videos andhigh-quality video of the invention comprises means for reproducingvideo identifier information from the optical disk, means forreproducing 2D video by a conventional procedure according to thisinformation, means for reproducing 3D video or high-quality video, andmeans for issuing stereoscopic video and high-quality video.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a recording device in an embodiment ofthe invention,

FIG. 2 is a time chart showing the relation of input signal and recordedsignal in the embodiment of the invention, and

FIG. 3 is a top view of an optical disk showing an arrangement ofinterleaved block on the optical disk in the embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing stereoscopic video arrangement informationin an embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a reproducing device of stereoscopic videoin the embodiment of the invention, and

FIG. 6 is a time chart showing the relation of signals recorded in thereproducing device and video output signals in the embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an MPEG decoder of a reproducingdevice in an embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 8 is a time chart showing the relation between recorded signals andoutput signals in 2D reproduction of the reproducing device in theembodiment of the invention,

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a 2D type reproducing device in theembodiment of the invention, and

FIG. 10 is a top view showing data arrangement of optical disk recordingstereoscopic video in a prior example.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a reproducing device for reproducing anoptical disk recording stereoscopic videos in a prior example,

FIG. 12 is a time chart showing the relation of recorded signals andvideo output by reproducing a stereoscopic video type optical disk inthe prior example, and

FIG. 13 is a time chart showing the relation of virtual stereoscopicvideo identifier, R output and L output in an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 14 is a reproduction sequence diagram showing difference in pointeraccess between ordinary video reproduction mode and stereoscopic videoreproduction mode in an embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 15 is a flow chart (1) changing the access procedure of pointerswhen reproducing and when not reproducing the stereoscopic video signalsin the embodiment of the invention, and

FIG. 16 is a flow chart (2) changing the access procedure of pointerswhen reproducing and when not reproducing the stereoscopic video signalsin the embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart for changing output depending on whetherstereoscopic video is present or not in a stereoscopic video reproducingdevice in an embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing the state of a stereoscopic videoidentifier entered in the stereoscopic video logic arrangement table inthe embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing the procedure of specifying the attributeof stereoscopic video of each chapter, each cell and each interleavedblock from the stereoscopic video identifier of the stereoscopic videologic arrangement table in the embodiment of the invention, and

FIG. 20 is a block diagram of interlace video signal output mode of thereproducing device in the embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram in output mode of progressive video signal ofa reproducing device in an embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 22 is a block diagram in input mode of progressive video signal ofa recording device in the embodiment of the invention, and

FIG. 23 is a block diagram in input mode of stereoscopic video signal ofthe recording device in the embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram in reproducing mode of stereoscopic videosignal of a reproducing device in an embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 25 is a block diagram in reproducing mode of stereoscopicprogressive video signal of four-speed reproducing device in theembodiment of the invention, and

FIG. 26 is a block diagram in progressive video reproduction ofmulti-stream of the reproducing device in the embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing an entire data structure of optical disk inan embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing an internal structure of volume informationfile in FIG. 27 in the embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 29 is a flowchart showing a detailed procedure of reproducingprocess of program chain group by a system control unit M1-9 in theembodiment of the invention, and

FIG. 30 is a block diagram showing a partial constitution for AVsynchronization relating to AV synchronous control 12-10 in theembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 31 is a timing chart of reproduction output through buffer anddecoding processing of decoder of data stream in an embodiment of theinvention,

FIG. 32 is a diagram showing a method of decreasing interlacedisturbance by filter on/off in the case of obtaining interlace signalin the embodiment of the invention, and

FIG. 33 is a diagram showing a recording method for adjusting the formatwhen recording into a DVD in the embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 34 is a diagram showing a timing control method in the case ofreproducing from a DVD in an embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 35 is a time chart showing reproduction of interleaved block at thetime of video stream changeover in the embodiment of the invention, and

FIG. 36 is a principle diagram for recording two progressive videosignals by dividing into interleaved blocks in the embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 37 is a flowchart for skipping an initial dummy field of VOB (VIDEOOBJECT) in an embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 38 is a flowchart of STC changeover in the case of seamlessconnection in the embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 39 is a block diagram of data compound processing unit in theembodiment of the invention, and

FIG. 40 is a principle diagram for recording interleaved block byseparating the scope (wide) video in the horizontal direction in theembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 41 is a principle diagram of 3-2 transformation by combining scopevideo from an optical disk in which scope (wide) video is separated andrecorded in an embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 42 is a composition diagram of system stream and video data of anoptical disk in the embodiment of the invention, and

FIG. 43 is a flowchart of seamless connection in the embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 44 is a diagram showing a method of separating interpolationinformation in the horizontal and vertical direction and recording ininterleaved blocks in an embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 45 is a timing chart of progressive, stereoscopic and wide signalsand data quantity of buffer at the time of reproduction thereof in theembodiment of the invention, and

FIG. 46 is a structural diagram of horizontal filter and vertical filterin the embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 47 is a signal arrangement diagram for inserting dummy fields in anembodiment of the invention,

FIG. 48 is a time chart of encoding progressive signals by using anexisting encoder in the embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 49 is a signal format of video identifier in the embodiment of theinvention, and

FIG. 50 shows contents of identifiers of vertical filter and horizontalfilter in the embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 51 is a diagram showing a principle of divided recording of 1050interlace signal in an embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 52 is a signal arrangement diagram for issuing progressive signal,NTSC signal, HDTV signal in the embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 53 is a progressive reproducing method for reproducing interleavedblocks while referring to the video present time stamp in the embodimentof the invention,

FIG. 54 is an arrangement diagram of HDTV sub signal and NTSC signal ofsimultaneous broadcasting system in the embodiment of the invention, and

FIG. 55 is a block diagram of reproducing device for common disk of HDTVand NTSC of simultaneous broadcasting system in the embodiment of theinvention.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to the drawings, preferred embodiments of the inventionare specifically described below.

The method of recording and reproducing stereoscopic videos (3-D videos)and high resolution videos is described in the first half, and themethod of realizing high-resolution videos is discussed in the secondhalf.

In recording of the invention, in the case of stereoscopic video or widevideo, two screens of the right eye and left eye, or two screens dividedin the horizontal direction are recorded separately. The two screens arefield videos starting from an odd-number line, which are calledodd-first signals. When recording a progressive video by dividing intotwo screens in the vertical direction, these two screens consist of afield signal starting from an odd-number line and a field signalstarting from an even-number line, which are respectively calledodd-first signal and even-first signal.

In this specification, an interleaved recording unit of videoinformation of one GOP or more is called an interleaved block or a framegroup.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an optical disk recording device 2 of theinvention. A signal for the right eye of a stereoscopic image is calledan R-TV signal, and a signal for the left eye is called an L-TV signal,and the R-TV signal and L-TV signal are compressed into MPEG signals byMPEG encoders 3 a, 3 b, and an R-MPEG signal and an L-MPEG signal asshown in FIG. 2(2) are obtained. These signals are interleaved in aninterleave circuit 4, as shown in FIG. 2(3), so that an R frame group 6by combining R frames 5 of R-MPEG signals by the number of frames of oneGOP or more into a frame group, and an L frame group 8 by combining Lframes 7 of L-MPEG signals by the number of frames of one GOP or moremay be disposed alternately. This recording unit is called aninterleaved block, or called a frame group in the specification. Inorder that the right-eye signal and left-eye signal may be synchronizedwhen reproducing, the number of frames in the R frame group 6 and Lframe group 8 is same as the number of frames in the same duration. Thisis also called the video data unit, and in one unit, data for theduration of 0.4 sec to 1 sec is recorded. In the case of DVD, on theother hand, the innermost circumference is 1440 rpm, that is, 24 Hz.Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 2(4), the interleaved block is recordedfor more than one revolution to more than ten revolutions of the disk.Back to FIG. 1, the address information is issued from an addresscircuit 13, and stereoscopic video arrangement information is issuedfrom a stereoscopic video arrangement information output unit 10, and isrecorded on an optical disk by a recording circuit 9. This stereoscopicvideo arrangement information includes an identifier showing whether thestereoscopic video is present on the optical disk or not, or astereoscopic video arrangement table 14 shown in FIG. 4. As shown inFIG. 4, the channel numbers arranging R and L stereoscopic videos, startaddress and end address are presented. On the basis of such arrangementinformation and identification information, in the reproducing device,stereoscopic videos are correctly issued as R and L outputs. Therefore,if different ordinary videos are issued to R and L by mistake, thevideos are not related to the right eye and left eye of the viewer, sothat discomfort is given. The stereoscopic video arrangement informationor stereoscopic video identifier is effective for preventing output ofsuch uncomfortable videos. The method is more specifically described inthe following explanation of the reproducing device.

Herein, a specific method of realizing stereoscopic video arrangementinformation is described. In the case of an optical disk conforming toDVD standard, files of directory of contents and information of table ofcontents are standardized and recorded in a record starting region ofthe optical disk. These files, however, do not contain description aboutstereoscopic videos. Accordingly, a stereoscopic video logic arrangementfile 53 containing a stereoscopic video logic arrangement table 51 shownin FIG. 18 is provided, and this file is read by a reproducing devicecorresponding to stereoscopic video. An ordinary 2D reproducing devicedoes not read the stereoscopic video logic arrangement file 53, but doesnot reproduce 3D, and hence there is no problem.

FIG. 18 is explained. Video information of DVD consists of three logiclayers. They are video title set (VTS) layer showing the title of themovie or the like, part of video title (PVT) layer showing chapters inthe title, and cell layer showing stream in the chapter.

The arrangement of stereoscopic video is shown in each layer. 000 meansthere is no stereoscopic video or progressive at all. 110 means anentire stereoscopic video. 001 means a mixture of stereoscopic portionand non-stereoscopic portion. In FIG. 18, title 1 of VTS layer is 001meaning a mixture of 3D and ordinary video, title 2 is 110 meaning anentire stereoscopic video. Title 3 is 000 meaning there is nostereoscopic video. Therefore, in the layers beneath titles 2 and 3,stereoscopic information is not necessary.

In the PVT layer of title 1, chapter 2 is 000 meaning there is nostereoscopic cell, and chapter 3 is 110 meaning all cells arestereoscopic. Therefore, stereoscopic information is not necessary inthe cell layer. Chapter 1 is 001 meaning a mixture of stereoscopic cellsand ordinary cells. In the cell layer of chapter 1, cells 1 and 2 are Rand L of first story, cells 3 and 4 are R and L of second story, andcells 5 and 6 contain recording of ordinary videos. In this way, byrecording the stereoscopic video logic arrangement file separately inthe optical disk, the conventional file is not changed, and hencecompatibility is maintained. Moreover, by this logic information, allphysical information on the optical disk is known, and it hence preventssuch error as to display ordinary videos of two different contents inthe right and left eyes. Still more, by adequately reproducing thestereoscopic video and decoding, videos of R and L can be given to theright eye and left eye from the correct output units.

Referring to the flowchart in FIG. 19, the procedure of judging whethereach cell is stereoscopic video or not from the stereoscopic video logicarrangement table is shown. At step 51 a, the stereoscopic video logicarrangement table 52 is read out from the first record region of opticaldisk. At step 51 b, the content of the VTS layer shown in FIG. 18 oftitle n is checked, and if 000, it is judged to be not a stereoscopiccell, and 3D processing is not done. At step 51 c, if VTS=110, all cellsare handled as 3D at step 51 d, and odd cell=R and even cell=L arehandled at step 51 e. At step 51 f, the display that all cells in titlen are stereoscopic is shown in the menu screen. At step 51 g, ifVTS=001, at step 51 i, the arrangement information of chapter n in thelower layer is checked, and at step 51 j, if PVT=000, at step 51 k, itis judged there is no 3D cell in chapter n, at step 51 m, if PVT=110, atstep 51 n, all cells in the chapter are judged to be 3D, and advancingto step 51 d, same as stated above, the display that the correspondingchapter is stereoscopic is added to the menu screen. Back to step 51 p,if PVT=001, cell number=n in the chapter of PVT=001 is checked one byone, and at step 51 s, if cell=000, it is judged not 3D, and the processreturns to step 51 q. At step 51 u, if cell=m−R, at step 51 v, it isjudged to be R of m story, and at step 51 w, if cell=m−L, at step 51 x,it is judged to be L of m story, and next cell is checked at step 51 q.

In this way, by additional recording of the stereoscopic video logicarrangement table 52 in FIG. 18, it provides an effect of judgingwhether titles, chapters and cells of all videos are stereoscopic ornot.

This is further explained in a top view of a disk in FIG. 3. One spiraltrack is formed in a disk 1, and an R frame group 6 is recorded in aplurality of tracks of R tracks 11, 11 a, 11 b. Actually, it is recordedin 5 to 24 tracks. An L frame group 8 is recorded in L tracks 12, 12 a,12 b, and next R frame group 6 a, in R tracks 11 c, 11 d, 11 e.

The reproducing operation is described by referring to the block diagramof 3D reproducing device of the invention in FIG. 5, and the timingchart in FIG. 6. When a signal is reproduced from the optical disk 1 byan optical head 15 and an optical reproducing circuit 24, and astereoscopic video identifier is detected by a stereoscopic videoarrangement information reproducing unit 26, or when video datadesignated to be stereoscopic video in a stereoscopic video arrangementtable 14 as shown in FIG. 4 is reproduced, if a stereoscopic videooutput is instructed from an input unit 19 or the like, the stereoscopicvideo is processed, and, at the same time, a SW unit 27 is controlled,and R signal and L signal are issued from an R output unit 29 and an Loutput unit 30, and R and L are issued alternately in each field from anRL mixed output unit 28.

Referring to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, operation of stereoscopic videoreproduction is described. On the optical disk, as explained in FIG.2(3), R frame group 6 and L frame group 8 having frames of one GOP ormore each are recorded alternately. In FIG. 6, (1) shows an entire view,and (2) shows a partial view. The output signal of the opticalreproducing circuit 24 in FIG. 5 is as shown in FIG. 6(2). This signalis separated into R signal and L signal in the SW unit 25, and the timeaxis of the R signal and L signal is matched with the original time bymeans of a first buffer circuit 23 a and a second buffer circuit 23 b,respectively. As a result, input signals of R and L-MPEG decoders areobtained as shown in FIGS. 6(4), (5). By processing these signals inMPEG decoders 16 a, 16 b in FIG. 5, mutually synchronized R and L outputsignals are sent into a video output unit 31 as shown in FIGS. 6(6),(7). The audio signal is expanded and issued in an audio output unit 32.

In this way, two outputs of R and L are issued simultaneously, andtherefore in a stereoscopic TV of two outputs of R and L, by sendingsignals of 60 fps (frames per second) each from R output unit 29 and Loutput unit 30, a flicker-less video is obtained. From the RL mixedoutput unit 28, by sending an RL mixed output of 60 fields/sec, a 3Dvideo can be viewed, although there is flicker, by the conventional TVand 3D goggles. By issuing an RL mixed output of 120 fields/sec, aflicker-less 3D video can be viewed by using double scan TV and 3Dgoggles. Besides, in spite of stereoscopic video contents, ifstereoscopic output is not made, a signal is added by a “stereoscopic”display signal output unit 33, and a symbol meaning stereoscopic isdisplayed in the TV screen. As a result, the user is informed of thefact that the stereoscopic video is being observed in 2D mode, and isurged to change over to the stereoscopic output.

In the block diagram in FIG. 5, two MPEG decoders are used, but as shownin FIG. 7, the R-MPEG signal and L-MPEG signal may be combined into oneMPEG signal in a combining unit 36, a double clock is generated by adouble clock generating unit 37, double operation and expansion are donein a double clock type MPEG decoder 16 c, and R and L video signals areissued from a separating unit 38, so that the constitution may besimplified in such circuit configuration. In this case, as compared withthe 2D reproducing device, it is enough to add only a 16 MB SD-RAM tothe memory 39, so that the cost increase is small.

Next is described the procedure of rotating at single speed and takingout only R signal. The standard rotation of the DVD reproducing deviceis called the single speed, and double rotation of the standard iscalled the double speed. Since it is not necessary to rotate the motor34 at double speed, a single speed command is sent from a control unit21 to a rotating speed change circuit 35, and the rotating speed islowered. The procedure of taking out only R signal at single speed fromthe optical disk in which R signal and L signal are recorded isdescribed by referring to the time chart in FIG. 8. As explained inFIGS. 6(1), (2), R frame groups 6 and L frame groups 8 are alternatelyrecorded in the optical disk of the invention. This state is shown inFIGS. 8(1), (2).

Comparing this signal and the one-rotation signal of the disk in FIG.8(3), it is known that the optical disk rotates 5 to 20 revolutionsduring reproduction of one frame group. When the optical head jumpstracks from the R frame group 6 to R frame group 6 a, the track jumpingtime to the adjacent track takes scores of microseconds. Supposing therotation waiting time to be a maximum of one revolution, data of the Rframe group 6 a can be reproduced in two revolutions. This is shown inthe reproduction signal diagram and the time chart of one-revolutionsignal of disk in FIGS. 8(4), (5). In the reproduction signal in FIG.8(4), the time axis is adjusted by the buffer circuit 23 a in FIG. 5,and a continuous R frame MPEG signal as shown in FIG. 8(6) is issuedfrom the buffer 23 a. This signal is expanded by the MPEG decoder 16 aas an R video signal as shown in FIG. 8(7). Same as the R signal, byselecting other channel, a 2D signal of L signal is obtained. Thus, asin the invention, by assigning R or L in the frame signal group of oneGOP or more, and recording the frame signal group continuously overplural tracks, it provides an effect of obtaining 2D output of R only,if a 3D optical disk is reproduced, even by the single speed reproducingdevice.

Hence, as shown in the block diagram in FIG. 9, by using one buffercircuit 23 of the 3D reproducing device in FIG. 5, one MPEG decoder 16,and one video output unit 17, a 2D-only reproducing device can becomposed. This 2D reproducing device 40 includes a stereoscopic videoarrangement information reproducing unit 26, and the identifier andarrangement information of stereoscopic video of a 3D optical disk 1 arereproduced. Therefore, when the 3D optical disk is recorded in the 2Dreproducing device, either one of R and L channels is issued. Since Rand L have same videos, it is a waste of time to issue by changing overthe channels in a channel selecting unit 20. In this invention, however,a stereoscopic channel output limiting unit 41 limits the output to onechannel only, for example, R of stereoscopic video by using thestereoscopic video identifier. As a result, only one of R and L of thesame video contents can be selected, so that the user does not have toselect an unnecessary channel.

In the case of stereoscopic contents, the “stereoscopic” display isshown in a display unit 42 of the reproducing device by a “stereoscopic”display signal output unit 33, so that the user can recognize thestereoscopic contents. Thus, in the optical disk of the invention, 2Dand stereoscopic videos are obtained in the stereoscopic reproducingdevice 43 in FIG. 5, and 2D videos are obtained in the 2D reproducingdevice in FIG. 9, so that the compatibility is realized.

Back to the 3D reproducing device, the method of use and effect of thestereoscopic video identifier are described.

FIG. 13 is a time chart of stereoscopic video identifier and outputsignal. If the time after FIG. 13(3) is defined as one interleaved blocktime unit, there is a delay time of It, but it is not shown in thechart. The stereoscopic video identifier in FIG. 13(1) is changed from 1to 0 at t=t7. As recorded signals in FIG. 13(2), from t1 to t7, R framegroups 6, 6 a, 6 b and L frame groups 8, 8 a, 8 b of stereoscopic videosare recorded. In t7 to till, on the other hand, completely differentcontents A and B are recorded as first frame groups 44, 44 a, and secondframe groups 45, 45 a. In the standard of DVD, etc., there is nodefinition of stereoscopic video, and hence stereoscopic videoidentifier is not included in the data or directory information.Therefore, upon start of the optical disk, it is required to read outthe stereoscopic video arrangement information file of the invention. InR output and L output in FIG. 13(3), (4), from t1 to t7, the data infirst time domains 46, 46 a, 46 b may be directly issued to R output,and the data in second time domains 47, 47 a, 47 b, directly to Loutput. After t=t7, there is no stereoscopic video identifier, andtherefore the same data as in first time domains 46 c, 46 d are issuedto the R output and L output. In other output system, that is, in amixed output in FIGS. 13(5), (6), from t1 to t7 in which thestereoscopic video identifier is 1, at the field frequency of 60 Hz or120 Hz, even field signals 48, 48 a and odd field signals 49, 49 a areissued alternately from one output. The data of the first time domains46, 46 a are issued to the even field signals, and the data of thesecond time domains 47, 47 a, to the odd field signals.

However, after t7 having no stereoscopic video, the data of the firsttime domains 46 c, 46 d are issued to both even field signals 48 d, 48 eand odd field signals 49 d, 49 e.

Thus, by varying the output to the stereoscopic display of signalsbetween the region in which the absence of stereoscopic video isindicted by the stereoscopic video arrangement information and theregion not indicated, it is effective to prevent input of videos ofdifferent contents into the right eye and left eye of the viewer.Without this function, while observing the right image and left image ofthe same content of the stereoscopic video, when the contents of thevideo become different between the first time domain and second timedomain in the optical disk, abnormal images are shown, contents of A inthe right eye and contents of B in the left eyes, which gives discomfortto the viewer.

This procedure is more specifically described by referring to theflowchart in FIG. 17. At step 50 a, an optical disk is loaded, and atstep 50 b, the file of contents list of the disk is read. Herein, thereis no information of stereoscopic video. At step 50 c, the stereoscopicvideo arrangement information is read. At step 50 d, on the basis of thestereoscopic arrangement information being read in, when displaying thecontents list in the disk, marking of stereoscopic display is shown ineach content on the menu screen. In this way, the user can recognize thepresence of stereoscopic video. This information, if there is only onein the entire optical disk, may be included in the navigationinformation in each data unit of DVD.

At step 50 e, data of specific address is reproduced, and at step 50 f,referring to stereoscopic video arrangement information, it is judgedwhether the data is stereoscopic video or not. If Yes, at step 50 g,from the data of stereoscopic video arrangement information, forexample, when the first time domain 46 is R signal and second timedomain 47 is L signal, each signal is decoded, the data of the firsttime domain 46 is issued as the image for the right eye, and the data ofthe second time domain 47 is issued as the image for the left eye. Theseimages are synchronized. When reproducing the next data, returning tosteps 50 e, 50 f, it is checked whether stereoscopic video or not. Ifnot stereoscopic video, advancing to step 50 h, for example, the data ofeither the first time domain 46 or the second time domain 47 is issuedin the same image as the image for the right eye and the image for theleft eye. It hence prevents output of images of different contents inthe right and left eyes.

In the invention, the reproducing procedure is different between whenreproducing ordinary videos of interleaved block system, and whenreproducing stereoscopic videos of interleaved block system. Features ofthe invention are described below.

As shown in the recorded data on the optical disk in the time chart (1)in FIG. 14, A1 data and the beginning address a5 of the firstinterleaved block 56 a to be accessed next are recorded in the firstinterleaved block 56. That is, since the next pointer 60 is recorded, asshown in FIG. 14(2), when reproduction of the first interleaved block 56is over, only by accessing the address of the pointer 60 a, by jumpingtracks, a next first interleaved block 56 a is accessed in 100 msec, sothat A2 data can be reproduced. Similarly, A3 data is reproduced. Thus,contents A3 can be reproduced continuously.

By contrast, in the optical disk recording R and L stereoscopic videosshown in FIG. 14(3), in order to keep compatibility, the same pointer 60is included so as to make into same format as in FIG. 14(1).Accordingly, the stereoscopic video cannot be reproduced unless thepointer is ignored. From the stereoscopic video logic arrangement table,moreover, the stereoscopic identifier 61 of each cell can be defined.Accordingly, the stereoscopic identifier 61 of the interleaved blocks54, 55, 56, 57 can be logically defined. This is shown in the diagram.To reproduce R2 and L2 by reproducing R1 and L1 and jumping, the pointercannot be used directly. More specifically, after completion ofreproduction of R interleaved block 54, instead of accessing the addressof pointer a5, next L interleaved block 55 is reproduced, and pointer a5of R interleaved block is accessed by jumping tracks. In this case,pointer 60 b of L interleaved block 55 is ignored. When reproducing aninterleaved block of which stereoscopic identifier is 1, by changing theaccess procedure of pointer address from that in ordinary video, itprovides an effect of reproducing R and L continuously as shown in FIG.14(4).

Referring to the flow chart in FIGS. 15 and 16, the procedure forchanging the pointer when accessing the interleaved block is describedby using the stereoscopic video identification information.

First, at step 62 a, an access command for an address of a specific cellis produced. At step 62 b, the address to be accessed is judged to bestereoscopic video or not by referring to the stereoscopic videoarrangement information. At step 62 c, if not stereoscopic video,skipping to step 62 t, one process of ordinary video is carried out. Ifstereoscopic video at step 62 c, advancing to step 62 d, it is checkedwhether or not to reproduce the stereoscopic video of the user or thelike, and if No, the display of “stereoscopic video” is shown on thescreen, and the process skips to step 62 t.

If Yes at step 62 d, the stereoscopic video arrangement information isread out at step 62 e, and the arrangement of R and L interleaved blocksis calculated from the chapter number, R cell number, L cell number,etc. At step 62 g, an n-th R interleaved block is reproduced, and atstep 62 h, pointers recorded in R interleaved block and L interleavedblock are read out, and stored in the pointer memory. At step 62 i, theprevious, that is, (n−1)-th pointer AL (n) is readout from the pointermemory. At step 62 j, it is checked if AL (n) and AR (n) are continuousor not, and if No, the tracks are jumped to address AL (n) at step 62 k.

Next, in FIG. 16, at step 62 m, an n-th L interleaved block isreproduced, and at step 62 n, the pointer address of n+1 is reproduced.At step 62 p, it is checked if reproduction of all data is complete ornot. At step 62 q, it is checked whether the n-th L interleaved blockand (n+1)-th R interleaved block are recorded continuously or not, andif not continuous, at step 62 r, the tracks are jumped to AR (n+1) toreturn to step 62 f. If Yes, the process returns to step 62 f.

At step 62 t, if stereoscopic video is not displayed, start address A(1) of h cell is accessed, and the first interleaved block isreproduced, and at next step 62 u, the n-th interleaved block of addressAn (n) is reproduced sequentially. At this time, in each interleavedblock, jumping tracks to the next interleaved block, the pointer addressA (n+1) for accessing is read out at step 62 v, and it is checkedwhether data reproduction is complete or not at step 62 w, and ifcomplete, the process returns to the first step 62 a of flowchart A. Ifnot complete, at step 62 x, it is checked whether interleaved blockshaving start addresses of A (n) and A (n+1) are continuous or not, andif Yes, without jumping, the process returns to the step before step 62u. If No, at step 62 y, the tracks are jumped to address A (n+1).

Next, by referring to the block diagram of reproducing device for 720Preproduction of double speed progressive or super-wide screen shown inFIG. 20, the reproduction operation of a reproducing device 65 of theinvention is specifically described below. The signal reproduced fromthe optical disk 1 is separated by a separating unit 68 into a firstinterleaved block 66 and a second interleaved block 67 composed of framesignals of one GOP or more each. Frame video signals 70 a, 70 b of 30seconds expanded by MPEG in an expanding unit 69 are separated into oddfield signals 72 a, 72 b and even field signal 73 a, 73 b in fieldseparating units 71 a, 71 b, and interlace signals 74 a, 74 b of 2chNTSC are issued. The wide screen in FIG. 20 is described later Referringto FIG. 22, the encoding operation of progressive video signal isdescribed below. At t=t1 and t2, progressive video signals 75 a, 75 bare entered, and signals of t1 and t2 are combined in a combining unit76, and a combined signal 77 is obtained. The combined signal 77 istaken out zigzag in the separating unit 78, and odd interlace signals 79a, 79 b and even interlace signals 80 a, 80 b are produced. By combiningthe odd interlace signals 79 a, 79 b and even interlace signals 80 a, 80b, frame signals 81 a, 81 b are obtained. Segmenting one GOP or moreGOPs which is consist of 10 to 15 frames of compressed signals 83 a, 83b compressed in MPEG compressing units 82 a, 82 b, interleaved blocks 84a, 84 b, 84 c are produced, and same time stamps are added to thecompressed signals separated from the same progressive signal by timestamp providing means, and the signals are recorded on an optical disk85.

The optical disk 85 containing the progressive signal is reproduced in adouble speed reproducing device 86 in FIG. 21, and reproduced ininterleaved block units in a separating unit 87, and separated into twostreams of interleaved blocks 84 a, 84 c, and interleaved block 84 b,then expanded into frame signals 89 a, 89 b of 720.times.480 pixels inexpanding units 88 a, 88 b. In field separating units 71 a, 71 b, thesignals are separated into odd fields 72 a, 72 b and even fields 73 a,73 b on the time axis. So far, the operation is same as in thereproducing device 65 in FIG. 20.

In FIG. 21, however, odd fields 72 a, 72 b of channel A 91 and channel B92 are combined in a combining unit 90. Even fields 73 a, 73 b aresimilarly combined. Thus, channel A 91 and channel B 92 are combinedzigzag, and progressive signals 93 a, 93 b of 60 frames/sec areobtained, and delivered from a progressive video output unit 94.

Thus, according to the reproducing device of the invention, progressivesignals, that is, 525 signals not interlacing NTSC signals, or 480signals in this case are obtained. A reproducing unit 95 reproduces atdouble speed.

In this case, if the conventional optical disk recording movie softwareis reproduced, a progressive video is obtained.

In FIG. 20, meanwhile, when reproducing the optical disk containing themovie software for single speed reproducing device for reproducinginterlace signals, since the movie software is composed of frame signals(progressive signals) of 24 frames per second, 24 frames of progressivesignals are obtained in the MPEG decoder. By detecting the moviesoftware by detecting means, or by transforming 24 frames intoprogressive signals of 60 frames/sec in a 3-2 transforming unit 174shown in FIG. 20, progressive signals are reproduced. In the case ofinterlace output, by filtering the progressive signals in a verticalfilter unit by referring to the filter identifier, an interlace videofree from disturbance is obtained.

Herein, when the optical disk 85 encoded in FIG. 22 is reproduced in thereproducing device 65 applicable to progressive signals in FIG. 20, aninterlace signal 74 a of channel A is reproduced. A conventional DVDplayer of interlace type has channel A only out of channel A and channelB. Hence, when the optical disk 85 of the invention is loaded in aconventional DVD player of interlace type, it is known that theinterlace signal of channel A is obtained. That is, in the optical diskof the invention, progressive signals are obtained in the reproducingdevice of the invention, and interlace signals of the same contents areobtained in a conventional reproducing device, and a perfectcompatibility is realized.

In this case, by adding an interlace interference removing compressingfilter 140 to the MPEG encoder in FIG. 22, although the frequencycharacteristic is slightly lowered, aliasing distortion between channelA and channel B can be decreased.

Encoding of stereoscopic video is more specifically described below.

As shown in FIG. 23, a right-eye signal 97 and a left-eye signal 98 areentered in a recording device 99. Being of interlace signals, in every1/60 second, odd field signals 72 a, 72 b and even field signals 73 a,73 b are entered. The signals are combined in combining units 101 a, 101b, and transformed into frame signals 102 a, 102 b in every 1/30 second.Compressed signals 83 a, 83 b compressed in compressing units 103 a, 103b are gathered into a set of one GOP or more, and interleaved block 84a, 84 b, 84 c are produced, and are arranged alternately and recorded onthe optical disk 1. When this optical disk 1 is reproduced in thereproducing device of the invention shown in FIG. 24, thestereoscopic/PG video arrangement information reproducing unit 26 inFIG. 5 detects the PG identifier in the disk, and the reproducing device104 is established in the stereoscopic reproducing mode as shown in theblock diagram in FIG. 24. In this case, the stereoscopic video in theoptical disk 1 d is first separated into channel A and channel B in theseparator 68, and expanded in expanding units 88 a, 88 b, and separatedinto field signals in field separators 71 a, 71 b. So far, the operationis same as in FIG. 21.

It is a feature of FIG. 24 that the field separator 71 a issues oddfield signals and even field signals by changing over the outputsequence in an output converting unit. First, for progressive TV, thatis, for TV of field frequency of 120 Hz, odd field signal 72 a ofchannel A, odd field signal 72 b of channel B, even field signal 73 a ofchannel A and even field signal 73 b of channel B are sent outsequentially. As a result, odd fields and even fields are issuedsequentially and alternately to the right and left eyes, and thereby byusing switch type stereoscopic goggles, a flicker-less video matched intime information is obtained from the progressive output unit 105.

As the output to the general TV, by using the odd field 72 a of channelA and even field 73 b of channel B out of the above from the NTSC outputunit 106, although flicker is present, a stereoscopic video of naturalmotion is obtained through stereoscopic goggles.

When the progressive system of the invention and the stereoscopic videoreproducing system are combined, stereoscopic videos of high picturequality of right and left progressive images are obtained. This isexplained in FIG. 25. This reproducing device 107 reproduces at afour-speed rate, and hence requires a four-speed reproduction capacity.In the DVD, however, it may be 80% of ordinary transfer rate. If, asshown in FIG. 25, when interleaved blocks 108 a, 108 b, 108 c, 108 d ofright progressive signals A, B and left progressive signals C, D arearranged continuously without gap, the optical pickup can reproducecontinuously without jumping tracks. In the case of DVD, since theinformation is limited to 80%, in continuous reproduction, instead offour speed, 3.2 speed is enough. Such continuous arrangement bringsabout an effect of reducing the reproducing speed.

Back to the explanation, by a separator 109, the interleaved blocks 108a, 108 b, 108 c, 108 d are separated as mentioned above, and signals offour channels A, B, C, D are reproduced. Video signals expanded inexpanding units 69 a, 69 b, 69 c, 69 d are combined in combining units90 a, 90 b same as in FIG. 21, and two progressive signals are issuedfrom progressive output units 110 a, 110 b. They are respectivelyleft-eye signal and right-eye signal, and a progressive stereoscopicvideo is issued from the reproducing device 107. In this case, by usingfour-speed block MPEG chip, it is possible to process by one chip, andhence the number of parts is not increased. It is also possible torecord and reproduce four videos of different contents. In this case,four screens of multi-screen TV can be displayed simultaneously by onedisk.

It is also a feature of the invention that the compatibility isguaranteed in all cases. When the disk 106 in FIG. 25 is reproduced in aconventional DVD or other reproducing device, the interlace signal foreither the right eye or the left eye is issued. The picture quality isnot deteriorated. However, only ¼ of time can be reproduced. By adheringtwo layers of DVD, the total time is 2 hours and 15 minutes, and it isenough for almost all movies.

In the reproducing device of the invention applicable to double-speedstereoscopic/progressive video, when the user sends a command to thecontrol unit 21 through the channel selection unit 20 from the inputunit 19 in FIG. 9, the stereoscopic interlace or one-channel progressivevideo can be changed over to a desired video. Thus, like the monauralrecord and stereo record in the past, a complete compatibility isassured.

Accordingly, by the double-speed or four-speed reproducing device of theinvention, videos of various picture qualities and projection methodsmay be obtained.

In the invention, therefore, in the absence of stereoscopic videoidentifier, it is enough to read the pointer and jump, and in thepresence of stereoscopic video identifier, by reading the pointer of oneof the interleaved blocks of one step before, and changing thereproducing procedure to access, the stereoscopic video can be recordedwithout changing the format.

Herein, a method of dividing the screen of scope size movie into twoimages, and recording and reproducing is described below.

In FIG. 20, the method of reproducing the optical disk 1 recording twoscreens of interlace signals by a double-speed reproducing device of theinvention was mentioned. In FIG. 40, by applying this method, asuperwide image 154 of scope size (2.35:1) is divided in a screendividing unit 155 into three screens, that is, a central image 156 andside images 157, 158, and the dividing position is indicated by a centershift quantity 159. The central image 156 d is supposed to be a firstvideo signal 156 d, and is compressed as a second video signal togetherwith side images 157 d, 158 d, and interleaved in an interleaved unit113, and recorded in the optical disk together with the center shiftquantity 159. In this case, since the second video signal is apatched-up picture of different qualities, and it is not preferred to bereproduced. Accordingly, by a second video signal limiting informationadding unit 179, password protection or other reproduction limitinginformation is added to the stream of the second video signal in thefile control information region of the optical disk. As a result, in thereproducing device, the second video signal is not reproducedindependently. Thus the viewer can be protected from viewing theabnormal image of independent output limit division screen of secondvideo signal. In this case, in the progressive applicable player, bothfirst video signal and second video signal are reproduced, and a widescreen can be issued.

When this disk is reproduced in the reproducing device in FIG. 20, firstof all, the second video signal is not issued independently. From theoptical disk, the center shift quantity 159 is reproduced from thecenter shift quantity reproducing unit 159 b. By using this shiftquantity 159, in a wide screen combining unit 173, the scope image iscombined, and it is transformed by 3-2 pull-down in a 3-2 transformingunit 174 as shown in FIG. 41, and 24 frames of the movie are transformedinto interlace signals of 60 fields/sec, or progressive signals of 60frames/sec. As, shown in FIG. 41, expansion and wide screen combinationare effected. In the process of 3-2 transformation in the 3-2transforming unit 174, a combined image 179 a of a combined image 179comprising 24 frames per second is separated into three interlace images180 a, 180 b, 180 c, and a combined image 179 b is separated into twointerlace images 180 d, 180 e. Thus, the image of 24 frames/sec istransformed into an interlace image of 60 fields. In the case of outputof progressive image 181, the three progressive images 181 a, 181 b, 181c and two progressive images 181 d, 181 e may be issued directly.

As a second method of separating the screen, as shown in FIG. 40, when ascreen 154 of 1440.times.480 pixels is separated in an image horizontaldirection separator 207 to separate two pixels in the horizontaldirection into one pixel each, it is separated into two horizontalseparate screens 190 a, 190 b of 720.times.480 pixels each. By a similartechnique, they are compressed as a first video signal and a secondvideo signal, and recorded in an optical disk 191. In this case,aliasing distortion occurs in the horizontal direction, and two pixelsare added at a specific addition ratio by a horizontal filter 206 toattenuate the high frequency components in the horizontal direction asshown in the horizontal filter 206 in FIG. 46. This prevents moire atthe time of reproduction with 720 dots in the existing reproducingdevice.

When this optical disk 191 is reproduced in the reproducing device 65 inFIG. 20, the horizontal separate screens 190 a, 190 b are decoded, andwhen combined in the wide image combining unit 173, the original screen154 a of 1440.times.480 pixels is reproduced. In the case of the moviesoftware, for 3-2 transformation, as shown in FIG. 41, the screen 154 ais combined to transform by 3-2.

In this second screen horizontal separating method, in both first videosignal and second video signal, since an ordinary picture of720.times.480 pixels dividing the original 1440.times.480 pixels intohalf in the horizontal direction is recorded, if the second video signalis reproduced by mistake in the ordinary reproducing device such as DVDplayer, since the picture of the same aspect ratio as in the original isdelivered, the compatibility is high. Thus, by this separating method,the interlace image is reproduced in an ordinary reproducing device, 525progressive image in an applicable reproducing device, and a wide imagesuch as 720P scope in a 720P high resolution applicable reproducingdevice. The movie material can be reproduced at double speed, and hencethe effect is high.

Further developing this technique, in FIG. 44, a progressive image 182 aof 1440.times.960 is separated into the horizontal or vertical directionby a horizontal or vertical separator 194 of the image separator 115 byusing, for example, sub-band filter or wavelet transform. As a result, a525 progressive image 183 is obtained. It is separated into 525interlace signal 184, and recorded in a stream 188 a.

On the other hand, the remaining interpolating information 185 issimilarly separated into four streams 188 c, 188 d, 188 e, 188 f, andrecorded in interleaved blocks. The maximum transfer rate of eachinterleaved block is 8 Mbps in DVD standard, and when the interpolatinginformation is divided into four steams, it is 32 Mbps, and in the caseof six angles, 48 Mbps is recorded, so that 720P and 1050P HDTV videoscan be recorded. In this case, in the conventional reproducing device,the stream 188 a is reproduced, and the interlace video 184 is issued.In the streams 188 c, 188 d, 188 e, 188 f, since the output limitinginformation is recorded in the optical disk 187 by an image processinglimiting information generating unit 179, so that the interpolatinginformation 185 of poor picture quality such as differential informationwill not be issued by mistake. Thus, by separating in both horizontaland vertical directions by the method in FIG. 44, a compatible opticaldisk applicable to both HDTV and NTSC is realized.

In FIG. 20, the interlace signal is transformed in an interlacetransforming unit 175, and issued and a scope screen 178 is obtained.The 525P progressive signal is similarly issued as the scope screen 178.When observing with a monitor of 720P, the 525P signal is transformedinto a 720 progressive signal in a 525P/720P transforming unit 176, anda letterbox type 720P screen 177 of 1280.times.720 or 1440.times.720(the image size being 1280.times.480 or 1440.times.480) is issued. Sincethe scope screen (2.35:1) is 1128.times.480 wide, an image of a closeraspect ratio is obtained. In particular, in the case of movie software,because of 24 frames/sec, the progressive image is at a rate of 4 Mbps.When the scope video is recorded in the system of the invention ofdividing into two screens, the rate is 8 Mbps, and since the recordingtime is about 2 hours on two-layer disk of DVD, so that a scope video of720P or a progressive video of high picture quality of 525P can berecorded in one disk. In the conventional TV, too, the interlace outputsignal is displayed. It is hence effective to issue the scope screen(2.33:1) of movie at 525P or 720P.

Herein, referring to FIG. 51, a method of recording and reproducing 1050interlace signals is specifically described below. An even field 208 aof 1050 interlace signals is separated into two images 208 b, 208 c byhorizontal separating means 209, and separated into images 208 d, 208 eby vertical separating means 210 a, 210 b, and images 208 f, 208 g aresimilarly obtained. An odd field signal 211 a is similarly separated,and images 211 d, e, f, g are obtained. In this case, the image 208 dand image 211 d are main signals, and the DVD interlace video isobtained in a conventional reproducing device. To prevent interlaceinterference, horizontal filters 206 b, 206 c, and vertical filters 212a, 212 b are inserted, so that aliasing distortion of reproduced imageis decreased.

Referring to FIG. 27, FIG. 28, FIG. 42, and FIG. 49, the file structureand video identifier are described. FIG. 27 shows the DVD logic format.Video files are recorded in logic blocks. As shown in FIG. 28, theminimum unit in the system stream is called a cell, in which, as shownin FIG. 42, video data and audio data in one GOP unit, and sub-pictureare recorded in a packet.

The provider defined stream in a packet 217 in a cell 216 (see FIG. 49)of main signal of the first stream has a capacity of 2048 bytes. Itincludes recording of a progressive identifier 218 showing whetherprogressive or interlace, a resolution identifier 219 showing whetherthe resolution is 525, 720 or 1050, a differential identifier 220showing whether the interpolating signal is a differential signal fromthe main signal, a filter identifier 144 described below, and asub-stream number information 221 showing the stream number of a firstsub-stream.

By reference to FIG. 52, the procedure of reproducing by a videoidentifier 222 is described below.

From the optical disk, first, reproducing procedure control information225 is read out from management information 224. Since the limitinginformation of VOB (Video Object) is included herein, in the existingreproducing device, it is connected only from No. 0 VOB 226 a to No. 1VOB 226 b in which the main video is recorded. Since No. 0 VOB 226 a isnot connected to No. 2 VOB 226 c in which the interpolating signal ofdifferential information or the like is recorded, video of poor picturequality will not be reproduced from the conventional reproducingapparatus such as the differential information as mentioned above. Avideo identifier is recorded in each VOB of the main signal, and sinceNo. 1 VOB 226 b and No. 2 VOB 226 c are progressive identifier=1,resolution identifier=00 (525 signals), 525 progressive signals arereproduced from the progressive player or HD player.

Since the video identifier 222 of the next VOB 226 d is the progressiveidentifier=0 and resolution identifier 219=10, there are 1050 interlacesignals, and it is known that three VOBs, VOB 226 e, VOB 226 f, VOB 226g, are interpolating information. Thus, in the conventional players,1050 interlace signals with 720 horizontal pixels are issued by the NTSCprogressive player, and 1050c full standard HDTV signals are issued byHD player. Thus, by the video identifier 222, various video signals canbe recorded and reproduced in interleave. The video identifier 222 maybe also recorded in the management information 224.

Herein, referring to FIG. 53, VPTS (video presentation time stamp) ofsub-track by each interleaved block, that is, the time relation indecoding output is described. In No. 1 VOB 226 b, interleaved blocks 227a, 227 b, 227 c of main signal are recorded together with VPTS1, 2, 3 ofVPTS. In No. 2 VOB 226 c, interleaved blocks 227 d, 227 e, 227 f arerecorded together with VPTS1, 2, 3. The conventional player reproducesthe interleaved blocks 227 a, 227 b, 227 c at single speed. Since soundis also included in the main signal, the sound is also reproduced. Onthe other hand, in the progressive applicable player, the interleavedblock 227 d of No. 2 VOB 227 c as sub-signal is reproduced, and storedonce in the buffer memory. When stored completely, the interleaved block227 a of No. 1 VOB 226 b of the main signal is reproduced, and the AVsynchronism is achieved by this synchronous information. Since the soundis also recorded in the main signal, the output of the main signal andsub-signal as shown in FIGS. 53(2), (3) is synchronized with sound. Inthis case, tracks are jumped between the interleaved block 227 a andinterleaved block 227 e. Thus, the progressive signal in FIG. 53(4) isissued. In this way, at the reproducing device side, by checking thesame VPTS of each interleaved block, the main signal and sub-signal aredecoded synchronously and combined, so that a normal progressive signalis maintained.

FIG. 54 is a diagram showing an arrangement of signals of simulcastingsystem for interleaved recording of NTSC signal and HDTV signalindividually, independently, and at the same time. In this case, NTSCvideo and sound 232 are recorded in the main signal of VOB 227 a. In VOB227 b, VOB 227 c, a signal of about 16 Mbps of compressed video signalof HDTV is divided into 8 Mbps each, and recorded on the optical disk inthe interleave system of the invention. In the conventional player inFIGS. 54(1), (2), and in the progressive applicable player, (525i)signal of NTSC is reproduced. However, in the HDTV player in FIG. 54(3),only the audio data is obtained from No. 1 VOB 227 a, and firstsub-video and second sub-video are reproduced from the VOB 227 b, 227 c,and combined, and the HDTV signal of 16 Mbps is reproduced as shown inFIG. 54(3). In this case, since the reproduction of sub-signal islimited by reproducing procedure limiting information 225, in the eventof misoperation of the existing DVD player by the user, the HDTVcompressed signal will not be reproduced. Thus, the NTSC is issued fromthe conventional player, and HDTV signal, from the HDTV splay, so thatthe compatibility is maintained. A block diagram is shown in FIG. 55.The detail of operation is same as above and is omitted, and thereproduced signal from the optical disk is separated by an interleavedblock separator 233, and the sound of the main signal is decoded by anaudio decoder 230 of NTSC decoder 229, the stream of 8 Mbps of firstsub-signal and second sub-signal is decoded in HDTV decoder 231, and theHDTV signal is decoded. In this way, HDTV signal and audio signal areissued. In this case, by simulcasting, in the firsts place, it ispossible to reproduce in NTSC also by a conventional machine. In theinvention, by using two interleave streams, a transfer rate of 16 Mbpsis obtained, and the MPEG compressed signal of standard HDTV can bedirectly recorded. Next, in the DVD, only 16 Mbps can be recorded in twointerleaved blocks. On the other hand, the HDTV compressed video signalis 16 Mbps. Accordingly, audio data cannot be recorded. However, as inthe invention, by making use of the audio data of NTSC signal of mainsignal, if the HDTV is recorded in two interleaves, the audio output canbe recorded.

Herein, a method of removing interlace interference is described below.When a progressive signal is decimated and transformed into interlacesignal, aliasing occurs, and moire of low frequency component occurs. Atthe same time, line flicker of 30 Hz occurs. To avoid this, it isrequired to pass through interlace interference removing means. Theinterlace interference removing means 140 is put into the progressivesignal block of the progressive interlace transforming unit 139 in theblock diagram of the recording device 99 in FIG. 22 explained above.From the entered progressive signal, first, the video signal of highprobability of occurrence of interlace interference is detected from theinterlace interference image detecting means 140 a, and only this videosignal is passed into the interlace interference removing filter 141.For example, in the case of the image of low frequency component in thevertical direction, since interlace interference does not occur, thefilter is circulated through a filter bypass route 143. Accordingly,deterioration of vertical resolution of image can be lessened. Theinterlace interference removing filter 141 is composed of a verticaldirection filter 142.

As shown in the time and space frequency diagram in FIG. 46( a), theshaded area is an interlace aliasing distortion occurring region 213. Toremove this, it may be passed through a vertical filter. Morespecifically, as shown in FIG. 46( c), installing three line memories195, of 480 progressive line signals, by adding the video information ofthe objective line (n-th line), and video information of the linesbefore and after ((n−1)-th, (n+1)-th lines), three in total, by an adder196 at an addition ratio, video information of one line is obtained, and240 interlace signals are produced. By this processing, the verticaldirection is filtered, and the interlace interference is alleviated. Byvarying the addition ratio of three lines, the filter characteristicscan be changed. This is called the vertical three-line tap filter. Byvarying the addition ratio of a line and the preceding and followinglines, a simpler vertical filter is obtained. As shown in FIG. 46( d),the line information is not a simple vertical filter, but, verticalfiltering may be executed by developing, for example, even lines of the(n−1)-the line of previous frame and (n+1)-th line of next frame on asame space. By this timevertical filter 214, it is effective to lessenthe interlace interference occurring when viewing only the interlacesignal by reproducing the optical disk recording the progressive signalby a DVD player not applicable to progressive video. A horizontal filter206 a is realized by adding two pixels in the horizontal direction, andcombining into one pixel. By filtering, however, the resolution of theprogressive video is deteriorated. By the interlace interference videodetecting means 140, by not filtering the image small in interference orchanging the addition ratio of the adder of the vertical filter, thefiltering effect is weakened, and it is effective to lessendeterioration in reproduction of progressive video. In the reproducingdevice applicable to progressive video of the invention, if not filteredduring recording as mentioned later, the interlace interference can beremoved by the filter at the reproducing device side. In future, it willbe replaced by the progressive applicable type reproducing device,filter is not necessary when recording in future. In this case, filteredoptical disk and non-filtered optical disk are present, and theinterlace interference detecting means 140 issues an interlaceinterference removal filtering identifier 144 to the filtered image asan identifier for identifying it, and records it on the optical disk 85by the recording means 9.

A specific recording method of filter identifier shown in FIG. 50 isdescribed. A filter identifier 144 is put into a header in a GOP whichis a pixel unit of MPEG in a stream. “00” means there is no filter, “10”shows a signal passing through a vertical filter, “01” through ahorizontal filter, and “11” through a vertical or horizontal filter.Being entered in the minimum unit of one GOP, the filter can be turnedon and off in every GOP in the reproducing device, so that deteriorationof picture quality due to double filters is prevented.

The operation of reproducing this optical disk 85 by the reproducingdevice 86 a is described by referring to FIGS. 32( a), (b). Same as inFIG. 21, two interlace images 84 a, 84 b are reproduced, and oncecombined into a progressive image 93 a. However, when the interlaceinterference removal filtering identifier 144 is ON or when notperforming trick play such as slow or still picture and not issuingprogressive image, the interlace signal is issued directly by interlaceoutput 145 by single speed rotation. In this case, energy-saving effectis obtained.

In the case of trick play or when the interlace interference removalfiltering identifier 144 is OFF, a double speed command 146 is sent to amotor rotating speed changing unit 35 from a control unit 147, and theoptical disk 85 rotates at double speed, and the progressive video isreproduced.

When issuing thus reproduced progressive video to an interlace TV 148 asan interlace signal, a method of removing the interlace interference isdescribed below. When the interlace interference removal filteringidentifier 144 is OFF, a judgment changeover circuit 149 is changedover, and the progressive signal is passed into the interlaceinterference removal filter 141, and odd interlace signal 72 a and eveninterlace signal 73 a are issued from two frames 93 a, 93 b in theinterlace changing unit 139, and an ordinary interlace signal is issued.In this case, an image free from interlace interference is displayed inthe interlace TV 148. Since the effect of interlace interference filteron the interlace signal is small, the interlace signal does notdeteriorate. On the other hand, in a progressive signal output unit 215,a progressive signal free from interlace interference removal filter isissued. Therefore, by the on/off method of interlace interferenceremoval filter at the reproducing device side, outputs of progressivevideo free from deterioration and interlace video free fromdeterioration such as interlace interference are obtained at the sametime, which is a very notable effect.

In slow reproduction of ½ or lower speed or still picture reproduction,the interlace interference decreases, and the removal filter isweakened.

Means for improving picture quality in trick play is described below.When a command for slow or still picture reproduction is put into slowstill picture reproducing means 151 from a control unit 147 through anoperation input unit 150, the interlace transforming unit 149distributes 480 lines of one frame 93 a into two fields by the frameprocessing unit 152, and an odd interlace signal 72 b and an eveninterlace signal 73 b are produced and issued. As a result, an interlacestill picture or slow reproduction image of resolution of 480 lines freefrom shake is displayed in the interlace TV 148. In the conventionalinterlace type reproducing device, to obtain a still picture or slowpicture free from shake, the resolution must be lowered to 240 lines,but in this invention, by once transforming from the interlace to theprogressive video, and then transforming to the interlace video, it iseffective to obtain slow and still picture of interlace at resolution of480 lines. In FIG. 32( a), steps 153 a to 153 g show this procedure inflow chart, but detailed description is omitted.

Next, in the method shown in FIG. 26, from a stream of two channels, forexample, from a disk interleaving videos of camera 1 and camera 2, afirst stream is reproduced, and it is changed over to a second streamintermediately, and issued continuously.

Referring to FIG. 35, when the contents have plural stories, that is,streams are multiplexed, a method of changing over from a specificstream to other stream smoothly without interruption is described. Asshown in FIG. 35(1), two different stories are recorded in an opticaldisk 106, as two streams of first video signal and second video signal,that is, first stream 111 and second stream 112, basically on the sameradius, approximately.

In this case, since only the first video signal as basic story isreproduced usually, after the first stream 111 a, a next first stream 11b is reproduced and issued consecutively. However, at the moment oft=tc, when the user commands to change over to the second video signalfrom the command input unit 19 in FIG. 5, at t=tc, the track at otherradius position is accessed by using the tracking control circuit 22 inFIG. 5 from the first stream 111 a to the second stream 112 b, and theoutput signal is changed over to the second stream 112 b of the secondvideo signal.

Thus, when the first video signal is at the time of t=tc in FIG. 35(2),the picture, sound and sub-picture of the second video signal arechanged over smoothly without interruption.

A method of seamless reproduction by synchronizing the picture, soundand sub-picture is described below.

Referring to the timing chart in FIGS. 35(3), (4), the data reproducingprocedure is more specifically described below. As explained in theblock diagram of the recording device in FIG. 22, the progressive videoof the first video signal is separated into main interlace video signalsA1 to An of Odd-line First, and sub-interlace video signals B1 to Bn ofEven-line First, and recorded separately in first angle and second anglesub-channels, respectively. Although omitted in FIG. 22, the progressivevideo of the second video signal is similarly separated into maininterlace video signals C1 to Cn and sub-interlace video signals D1 toDn, and recorded separately in third angle and fourth angle as shown inFIG. 35(3). FIG. 35(3) is an explanation of the principle of FIG. 36 intime chart, and the operation is the same.

FIG. 36 explains the recording device in FIG. 22, limiting only to theinterleave unit. The progressive signals of the first video signal areseparated into two interlace signals, that is, odd-first main signal andeven-first sub-signal, in the first video signal separator 78 a. In thiscase, in order to decrease the quantity of information, a differentialsignal of main signal and sub-signal is determined in a differentialunit 116 a, and the main signal and differential signal are compressedand recorded in the disk, so that the recording information quantity canbe decreased. In the case of progressive video, since the correlation ofadjacent odd line and even line is very close, the information quantityof differential signal between the two is small. By calculating thedifference, it is effective to reduce the information quantitysubstantially.

In the divided recording method of the invention using this differentialunit 116 a, as shown in FIG. 44, a 720P or 720-line progress signal 182or 1050P progressive video 182 a are separated into 525. basicinformation 187, progressive video 183, 525 interlace video 184 andcomplementary information 186 by the image separator 115. By thedifferential unit 116 a, basic information 187 and differentialinformation 185 of complementary information 186 are determined, andthis differential information 185 can be separated into four streams 188c, 188 d, 188 e, 188 f in total by the second video signal separator 78c and third video signal separator 78 d. Sending them to the compressingunit 103, and interleaving with the interleave 113 a, six streams arerecorded in each angle of the optical disk 187.

At this time, since the streams 188 c, 188 d, 188 e, 188 f aredifferential information or complementary information, if decoded in thereproducing device, when issued to the TV screen, since it is not anormal TV picture, it gives an impression of discomfort to the viewer.In the invention, accordingly, in order that the angle of the streams188 c, 188 d, 188 e, 188 f including the complementary information maynot be issued in the past non-applicable reproducing device, thelimiting information is generated in a video output limiting informationgenerating unit 179, and recorded in the optical disk 187. Morespecifically, in the DVD standard, it is designated so as not to openthe specific stream without password. By protecting the streams 188 dc,188 d, 188 e, 188 f with password, it cannot be opened easily in theconventional reproducing device, thereby avoiding presentation ofabnormal picture decoding the complementary information 186 by mistaketo the viewer.

Back to FIG. 36, the first video signal is thus compressed, and the mainsignal becomes interleaved blocks 83 a, 83 c of A1, A2 in the unit ofone GOP or more. On the other hand, the main signal of the second videosignal is the interleaved block 83 g of C1, C2, the sub-signal is theinterleaved blocks 83 b, 83 d of B1, B2, and the sub-signal is theinterleaved blocks 83 f, 83 h of D1, D2. From these four sets of data,as shown in FIG. 36, a recording stream 117 is generated. In therecording stream 117, the data are arranged in the sequence of A1, B1,C1, D1, A2, B2, C2, D2, and recorded on an optical disk 155 by recordingmeans 118. Seeing at the progressive signal level, A1, B1, A2, B2 arefirst video signals, and hence the data are recorded in the sequence ofthe first video signal, second video signal, first video signal, secondvideo signal and so forth. Seamless interruption of AV synchronouscontrol unit is described later.

In the above explanation, MPEG signals of one GOP or more are recordedin each interleaved block, and strictly speaking, since one interleavedblock is limited to about 0.5 sec or less, the video signals can berecorded for the portion of 30 fields at maximum. Therefore, at maximum,30 GOPs can be recorded in one interleaved block. That is, oneinterleaved block of the invention is limited to recording of one GOP ormore and up to 30 GOPs or less.

When recording on a DVD, normal reproduction is not obtained unless theDVD standard is satisfied. In the DVD standard, each chapter, that is,each VOB must start with Odd-line First. When the progressive signal ofthe invention is separated, as shown in FIG. 22, the interlace signal ismain, and the signal is an odd line, that is, Odd-line First, but thesub-signal is an even line, that is, Even-line First. Accordingly, inthe invention, as shown in FIG. 33, the progressive videos 75 a, 75 bare separated by the separator 78, into a field pair of odd interlacesignal 79 a and even interlace signal 80 a as the main signal, and intoeven interlace signal 80 b and odd interlace signal 79 b as the subsignal. The first VOB 118 composed of main signal starts with the oddinterlace signal 79 a of odd line field, and hence no problem is caused.However, the sub-signal starts with even interlace signal 80 b composedof even line, and it is not normally reproduced in this state. In theinvention, by dummy field generating means 120, at least one dummy field121 is created, and the dummy field 121 is added to the beginning of thesecond VOB 119 by dummy field adding means 122. The dummy field 121 isreproduced continuously later. Unnatural feeling may be eliminated whenreproducing by copying the image of the even interlace signal 80 b orfield picture of odd interlace signal 79 b.

A compressing method is described below. Interlace signals 79 a, 80 a ofthe first VOB 118 are assembled into a field pair 125 a, and coded in aframe encoder 123 a, and a frame coded signal 127 a is produced.

On the other hand, the dummy field 121 of the second VOB 119 is coded ina field unit in a field encoder 124 b in a compressing unit 82 b, andfirst the field coded signal 129 is coded. Next, the sub-signals, thatis, the even interlace signal 80 b and odd interlace signal 79 b areassembled into a first field pair 126 a, and coded in frame in a frameencoder 123 b in the compressing unit 82 b, and a frame coded signal 128a is obtained.

In this way, an odd-first dummy field is added to the second VOB 119,and hence it starts from an odd interlace signal. Being recorded in thesequence of odd number and even number, it is effective to reproducesmoothly in a DVD player. In this case, one progressive signalcorresponds to frame coded signal 127 a and frame coded signal 128 a.However, owing to the presence of the field coded signal 129 which is adummy field, there is an offset time 130 of td between the frame codedsignal 127 a of the main signal and frame coded signal 128 a of thesub-signal. When reproducing progressive video, the output timing of thesub-signal musts be advanced by the portion of this offset time 130.

Referring now to FIG. 34, the operation of the reproducing device 86 inFIG. 21 is more specifically described below. The signal from thereproducing unit 95 is separated into first VOB 118 of main signal andsecond VOB 119 of sub-signal. Since the first VOB 118 starts with an oddline, it may be expanded directly. However, at the beginning of thesecond VOB 119, the dummy field 129 is inserted as mentioned in FIG. 33.Accordingly, when reproduced directly, synchronism between the mainsignal and sub-signal is deviated by the portion of offset time 119 oftd, and it takes time to combine the first progressive video, and thescreen is not consecutive when changing over from VOB to next VOB. Inthis invention, therefore, the dummy field 121 is skipped by twomethods.

In a first method, the field coded signal 129 at the beginning of thesecond VOB 119 is once put into an expanding unit 132, and ifprogressive identification information is entered in the process ofexpanding by field expanding process or after expanding, the progressiveprocess changeover unit 135 is changed to yes, and the dummy field 121is skipped by dummy field detour means 132, and the even interlacesignal 80 b is issued first, which is followed by the even interlacesignal 79 b. This signal is synchronized, by synchronizing means 133,with an audio signal 134 recorded in the main signal and sub-title orsub-picture 135, and progressive images 93 a, 93 b are issued from theprogress transforming unit 90. Thus, by detour of dummy field 121, theodd field and even field are synchronized and combined, and theprogressive signal, audio signal and sub-picture matched on the timeaxis are issued. Incidentally, if progressive identification informationis not provided, the progressive changeover unit 135 is changed over toNo, and dummy field 121 is not removed, and hence the progressive videois not transformed, and the interlace signal 136 is issued. Thisinterlace signal 136 is issued in a conventional DVD player withoutprogressive function. Thus, turning on the dummy field detour means 132in the case of progressive process, and off otherwise, the interlacesignal of ordinary field coding can be normally reproduced withoutdropping the first field.

A second method is described below. This is employed when the dummyfield 129 is a field coded GOP, and it can be separated from the GOP offrame of sub-signal. Before decoding, the field coded signal 129 whichis coded information of the dummy field is skipped by one GOP in codedinformation detour means 137 of dummy field. Skipped information may beentered in the buffer 131 b, or it may be skipped at the time of outputof the buffer 131 b. In the expanding unit 88 b, only the frame or fieldinformation of the sub-signal making a pair with the main signal isentered. Thus, by the ordinary means shown in FIG. 21, the eveninterlace signal 80 and odd interlace signal 79 b are expanded andinterlace transformed, and synchronized with the main signal in thesynchronizing means 133, and transformed into progressive signals 93 a,93 b in the progressive transforming unit 90.

In the second method, since the dummy field is removed in the stage ofcoded information, it is not necessary to change the processing of thebuffer 131 b or processing of the expanding unit 88. It is suited wheninserting the dummy field coded into one GOP at the beginning of thesecond VOB 119.

In the first method, the dummy field 129 and field signals in each frame127 a are field coded in batch to create one GOP, and therefore, same asthe seamless multi-angle method of high recording efficiency, it isefficient when the dummy field is inserted at the beginning of oneinterleaved block, and hence it gives an effect of increasing therecording time.

Thus, by skipping the dummy field 121 only in the case of progressiveprocess, it is effective to reproduce the progressive video without seamin the boundary of one VOB and next VOB, or in the interleaved block ofseamless multi-angle.

Referring to the flowchart in FIG. 37, the procedure is described. Atstep 138 a, a reproduction start command of (2n−1)-th angle data isreceived. At step 138 b, checking if there is progressive identifier ornot, and if Yes, the process jumps to step 138 f, and if No, at step 138c, it is checked if the following three conditions are satisfied or not.Condition 1, there is a GOP of one field (or an odd number of fields) atthe beginning of VOB of n-th angle. Condition 2, there is no GOP of onefield consecutively to this GOP of one field. Condition 3, the beginningGOP of (2n−1)-th angle is not one field. At step 138 d, checking ifthese conditions are satisfied or not, and if No, interlace is processedat step 138 e, and only (2n−1)-th angle is issued. If Yes, changing overto progressive process at step 138 f, it is checked at step 138 gwhether or not to reproduce from the beginning of the VOB of (2n−1)-thangle, and if No, the process jumps to step 138 j, and if Yes, at step138 h, the video of the first one field of n-th angle VOB or GOP for theportion of one field is skipped to produce output. If there is an audiosignal in (2n−1)-th angle, the output is produced by skipping the firstoffset time td (default: 1/60 sec) of VOB. At step 138 j, the mainsignal of (2n−1)-th angle and sub-signal of 2n-th angle are decoded andsynchronized, and combined into a progressive signal. At step 138 k,issuing a progressive image, when issuing seamless multi-angle at step138 m, advancing to step 138 n, each interleaved block of (2n−1)-thangle (sub-signal) is field decoded, and issued by skipping the firstone. Or, at the time of interlace transformation, the output sequence ofodd line and even line fields is reversed. At step 138 p, theprogressive image is combined and issued.

FIG. 48 is a time chart when using the encoder of MPEG2 generally usedat the present. Most of the existing encoders can process only theinterlace signals of which first image begins with odd-first line. Onthe other hand, as shown in FIG. 48(2) in which the progressive signalin FIG. 48(1) is divided, the main signal by dividing the progressivesignal is odd-first, and is hence encoded from the first field. However,the sub-signal shown in FIG. 48(3) has an even-first beginning image,and the signal of t=t−1 in the first field is not encoded, and encodingstarts from t=t0. That is, only a pair of images 232 c, 232 d can beencoded. In this case, the boundary of the first VOB and second VOB isdeviated by one field in the sub-signal as compared with the mainsignal. Therefore, when reproducing consecutive VOBs, VOBs are smoothlyconnected, but when jumping from a certain VOB to other specificnonconsecutive VOB, as shown in FIG. 48(12), only one main signal can beobtained in the beginning field of the VOB. Accordingly, in theinvention, discarding the image 232 m of the first field, by reproducingfrom the image 232 n at t=t2, a perfect progressive signal is obtained.In this case, by discarding the audio data 233 a for the portion of onefield at the same time, it is effective that the sound is connected insynchronism.

Referring to FIG. 47, a method of inserting dummy field of odd fieldwithout dropping the recording efficiency by using odd field repeatidentifier is described. In the sub-signal of progressive signal shownin FIG. 47(2), imaginary dummy fields 234 a, 234 b are set as shown inFIG. 47(3). The time stamp is advanced by one field. In the 3-2transforming unit in FIG. 47(5), three fields, 234 a, 234 b, 234 c, arevirtually combined into one frame 234 d. In this case, even-firstidentifier should be provided by nature, but since odd-first repeatidentifier for repeating odd-first is added, as shown in FIG. 47(8),when reproducing, odd field 234 f, even field 234 g, and odd field 234 hare reproduced in the 2-3 transforming unit. In this way, the odd-firstDVD standard is satisfied, and the compatibility is assured. Of course,in the progressive applicable type reproducing device, skipping thedummy field 234 h, seamless progressive signal is reproduced bycorrecting the time stamp by the portion of one field. In the dummyfield, only the same field is repeated twice, the recording efficiencyis not lowered at all.

Herein, by reference to FIG. 26 and FIG. 35(3), the procedure ofreproducing this optical disk 155 and changing over from first videosignal to second video signal at t=tc is described below. In thisexample of optical disk 155, as shown in FIG. 26, streams of fourchannels are interleaved and recorded in the interleaved block unit ofone GOP unit in the sequence of A1, B1, C1, D1, A2, B2, C2, D2, A3, B3,C3, D3. First is the output of the first video signal, interleavedblocks (ILB) of A and B, 84 a and 84 b, that is, A1 and B1 arereproduced continuously, and by jumping tracks 156, ILB 84 e and 84 f,that is, A2 and B2 are reproduced. At t=tc, changing over to the secondvideo signal, jumping tracks 157, ILB 84 i and 84 h, that is, C3 and D3are reproduced. Thus, A1, A2, C3 are reproduced as main signals, and B1,B2, D3 as sub-signals, and they are expanded and combined in theexpanding unit, and sent into the output unit 10 b from the combiningunit 101 b, and together with the sub-picture from the sub-picturedecoder 158 and sound from the audio signal reproducing unit 160, thethree signals are matched in phase in the AV synchronism control unit158, and issued as being matched in timing. Accordingly, the progressivesignal of the first stream and progressive signal of the second streamare reproduced continuously without seam together with sound andsub-picture. The seamless synchronizing method is described later.

Referring to FIG. 45, the procedure of synchronizing two videos andsound when reproducing two streams simultaneously, such as progressivevideos, stereoscopic videos or scope videos, is described below.Reproduction of three or four streams such as 720P signals can besimilarly realized, and description is omitted herein.

First is mentioned a method of synchronizing two video streams in theinvention. As shown in FIG. 39, in the first place, a system streamreproduced from the optical head is once accumulated in a track buffer23, and sent into a first video decoder 69 d and a second video decoder69 c. In the tracks of the optical disk, two streams of progressivesignals, that is, first stream A and second stream B are recordedalternately in the interleaved block unit.

First, the stream A is reproduced by double speed rotation, andaccumulation of data in the first track buffer 23 a in the track buffer23 is started. This state is shown in FIG. 45(1), in which at t=t1 tot2, data is accumulated in the portion of one interleaved block (ILB) I1of first video signal in the period of one interleave time T1. The dataquantity in the first track buffer increases, and at t=t2, it increasesto the data quantity of one ILB, and accumulation of data for theportion of one ILB of the first video signal is complete. At t=t2, afterfinishing accumulation of the portion of one ILB over one GOP of thefirst video signal, this time, the second video signal of the stream Bis reproduced from a next interleaved block I2 of the optical disk, andas indicated by a solid line in FIG. 45(4), at t=t2, accumulation ofdata of second video signal is stated in a second track buffer 23 b, anddata is accumulated in the second track buffer 23 b up to t=t6. At thesame time, from t=t2 to t8, as shown in FIGS. 45(7), (10), the firstvideo signal and second video signal are fed into the first videodecoder 69 c and second video decoder 69 d from the track buffer 23 aand track buffer 23 b by synchronizing the video presentation timestamp, that is, the time of VPTS. These input signals are, as shown inFIGS. 45(8), (11), are issued as two sets of expanded video data fromthe first video decoder 69 c and second video decoder 69 d, from timet=t3 delayed by the video delay time twd as the MPEG expansion processtime. From t=t4 to t10, the two video data of stream A and stream B arecombined into a progressive signal in the progressive transforming unit170, and the progressive signal for the portion of one interleaved blockis issued.

Thus, from t=t2 to t8, data of one interleaved block is put into thedecoder. Therefore, nearly at a same rate, data in the first trackbuffer 23 a and second track buffer 23 b are consumed and decreased.Hence, as shown in FIG. 45(2), the data quantity in the first trackbuffer is decreased from t2 to t7, and at t=t7, it is decreased to ½ ofone ILB. At t=t7, data reproduction of interleaved block I5 starts, andincrement and decrement are canceled, the quantity continues to increaseup to t=t8, reaching one ILB at t=t8, but same as at t=t2, input intothe first decoder 69 c begins at t=t8, and hence the quantity continuesto decrease up to t=t11, and finally the buffer memory quantity is wortha half ILB.

In FIG. 45(4), transition of memory quantity in the second track buffer23 a as the buffer quantity of the stream B is described. At t=t2, inputof data B1 of stream B in the interleaved block I2 into the second trackbuffer 23 b begins, and at the same time transfer of data B1 into thesecond video decoder 69 d starts, thereby canceling to ½, the bufferquantity at t=t6 is half ILB. In the case of multi-angle recording oftwo angles of progressive signal in the invention, since there are fourstreams, that is, four interleaved blocks, from t=t6 to t7, tracks mustbe jumped from interleaved blocks I3, I4 to I5. During this tj jump time197, reproduction input of data from the optical disk is interrupted,and the buffer quantity in the stream B continues to decrease up tot=t8, and becomes nearly zero at t=t8.

At t=t8, reproduction data of data B2 of the interleaved block I6 isentered, and it begins to increase again, and at t=t11, the memoryquantity of the second track buffer is half ILB. At t=t11, jumpingtracks, interleaved blocks I7, I8 are skipped, and interleaved block I9of A3 is accessed.

This operation is repeated.

The minimum required memory capacity for the track buffer 23 summing upthe first track buffer 23 a and second track buffer 23 b of the systemof the invention is described below. The track buffer capacity 198indicated by dotted line in FIG. 45(4) shows the data quantity summingup the track buffer 23 a and track buffer 23 b. By thus setting thecapacity of at least one ILB in total in the track buffer, seamlessreproduction is realized.

In the invention, it is effective to prevent overflow or underflow oftrack buffer by setting the total capacity of the track buffer 23comprising track buffers 23 a and 23 b at one interleaved block or morein progressive reproduction of the invention. As the changeover methodof system clock STC in the case of two streams is described later inFIG. 31, there are two streams A and B in the case of progressivereproduction. In this case, supposing the two streams of two interlacesignals for composing progressive signals of one ILB to be A1 and B1,the data of the first stream A1 is reproduced in a period of half ILB asshown in FIG. 31(1), and all data is accumulated in the buffer. Next,the data of the next stream B is reproduced as B1 after completion ofreproduction of A1 as shown in FIG. 31(2), and is accumulated in thebuffer. In this case, as mentioned above, since the reproduction datafrom the optical disk is controlled by the stream B in FIG. 31(2), thetrack buffer will not overflow. The SCR or stream clock from the trackbuffer of stream A or stream B shown in FIG. 31(3) is nearlysynchronized with the reproduction start point J of the stream B shownin FIG. 31(2), and the counter is reset. Since the stream B is issued atdouble speed, the stream clock is counted by the buffer at a singlespeed as shown in FIG. 31(3), that is, at ½ speed. At point G, thestream clock is reset. The time VPTS2 of output of video signal ofstream B from the video decoder must be synchronized in consideration ofthe delay time Tvd such as MPEG decoding time. In this case, at point I,that is, when the increase of VPTs is interrupted, or t=Ti, the AVsynchronism control is restarted. In this case, checking VPTS2 of thestream B, by synchronizing the VPTS1 of the stream A with this VPTS2,synchronism is realized in a simple control of one system. In this case,the VPTS1 may be employed at the same time.

The audio data of synchronous stream B of audio is reproduced, and theSTC is changed over at point H by using APTS of stream B as shown inFIG. 31(4). The sub-video signal of stream B is also changed over in theSTC as shown in FIG. 31(4).

Thus, by Av synchronism by using the data of stream B by priority, AVsynchronism is realized by a simple control.

In this case, the streams A1, A2 will not overflow as all video data isaccumulated in the buffer memory. The stream B has a possibility ofoverflow. In the invention, however, by synchronous control at stream B,as shown in FIG. 31(6), since the signal flow is controlled by changingover the STC so that the VPTS2 may not exceed the threshold of VPTS2,the buffer will not overflow.

Besides, by using the voice in the stream B in audio reproduction, asmentioned above, the buffer of the audio data can be reduced to half,and moreover, as shown in FIG. 31(4), by changing over the STC at pointH at t=Th, the sound is reproduced smoothly without exceeding the APTSthreshold. The sub-video information is also synchronized and reproducedsmoothly. Therefore, the video, sound, and sub-video such as sub-titleare synchronized, and the picture and sound are reproduced without seam.In this case, recording of sound and sub-video of stream A may beomitted. Or, by adding sound and sub-video in the stream B, the streamB2 is reproduced by the existing reproducing device, and by controllingreproduction of stream A by the second video signal output controlinformation adding unit 179 shown in FIG. 22, the trouble of output ofsilent picture can be prevented. Thus, by omitting the data of sound andsub-video in the stream A, the software of progressive video, forexample, a movie of 2 hours can be recorded in two layers of a diskaccording to the interleaved block recording method of the invention.This effect is described below. The movie software can be recorded forabout 2 hours and 15 minutes in a 4.7 GB DVD of one layer. When theprogressive video of the invention is directly recorded in two channelswithout differential process, it requires a double capacity, that is,9.4 GB. However, for example, the video signal is 4 Mbps, and thesub-video and audio signal are nearly 1 Mbps. When 1 Mbps of audiosignal is recorded in one stream only, the required total is 9 Mbps.That is, 90% of data quantity is enough, and 90% of 9.4 GB is 8.5 GB, sothat one-layer disk and progressive signals can be recorded in atwo-layer disk.

In the synchronizing method of the invention, of the signals in a set oftwo progressive signals, supposing the interleaved block of stream B isrecorded next to the interleaved block of stream A, as seen from thebeginning of video data on the optical disk, by putting the beginningdata (A in this embodiment) in the track buffer, when reproducing otherdata (B in this embodiment), it is designed to synchronize by usingmainly the synchronous information of stream B. More specifically, bychanging over the system clock so that the video time stamp VPTS1 ofstream B may not exceed the threshold of the VPTS1, the video and audioare reproduced synchronously without interrupting the screen. It isenough to read out the stream A from the buffer by synchronizing withthe time information such as VPTS2 which is the time stamp of the streamB, so that the control is simple.

Thus, in the invention, it is enough to control the second streamsynchronously by once accumulating the first stream in the buffer, andthe control is secure and simple. In this case, when the size of thebuffer memory is set at over one ILB, overflow or underflow does notoccur.

In the case of the existing DVD optical disk reproducing device, astandard buffer memory of 100 to 300 kB, about ⅕ of ILB is used. In thecase of the invention, however, by a standard buffer memory of one ILBunit, it is possible to reproduce smoothly. One ILB is worth 0.5 to 2seconds, but in the case of multi-angle, since the waiting time isallowed by about one second, it is actually used in a range of 0.5 to 1sec. Therefore, considering the stream of 8 Mbps at maximum of 1 sec, inthe DVD optical disk reproducing device of the invention, it is enoughto use a buffer memory of 1 MB or more.

In the above operation, the synchronous control unit 166 in FIG. 30changes over the STC by using the synchronous data of the second videosignal of interleaved blocks I2 and I6 in FIG. 45(1), and seamlessreproduction between the interleaved blocks is realized. Whenreproducing data of interleaved blocks I2, I6, by controlling the motorrotating speed reproducing track while monitoring the buffer quantity ofthe stream B, it is optimized so that the memory quantity of the trackbuffers 23 a, 23 b may not overflow, and it is effective to decrease thememory quantity of the track buffer. The data in the interleaved blocksI1, I5 of the stream A are put entirely in the track buffer 23 a, and itis not suited for optimizing the buffer size by controlling thereproduction by the signals of two streams A. When reproduced by usingthe audio data of the interleaved blocks I1, I5, in order to match withthe time stamp of the outputs of video data in FIGS. 45(8), (11), it isnecessary, as shown in FIG. 45(3), to accumulate audio data or sub-videodata of one interleaved block or more in the track buffer 23 (FIG. 39)or audio decoder buffer 172 (FIG. 39), but by using the audio data ofinterleaved blocks I2, I6, as shown in FIG. 45(5), it is enough with ½,that is, half ILB data, so that the memory quantity of the track buffer23 (FIG. 39) or audio decoder buffer 172 (FIG. 39) may be half.

Also, as shown in FIG. 45, when reproducing a set of I1, I2, and a setof I5, I6 containing main signals and complementary signals ofprogressive signals, by accumulating the interleaved blocks I1, I5 inthe buffer, when the motor rotation is controlled on the basis of thereproduction data of next interleaved blocks I2, I6, the memory quantityof the buffer is decreased. As for the changeover timing of STC of theAV synchronous control unit 158 in FIG. 30, on the basis of the STC ofthe interleaved blocks I2, I6, it is effective to decode stably withoutoverflow of buffer.

Moreover, as shown in FIG. 37, at the time of progressive signalreproduction, the method of skipping the first field of VOB ismentioned, but as a second realistic method, as shown in FIG. 22, in therecording device 99, of the two images of the image with interlacetransformed odd-first identifier 199 and image with even-firstidentifier 200, only the even-first identifier 200 is transformed intoan odd-first identifier 202 by an even/odd transforming unit 201, and byadding the odd-first identifier to each MPEG data, the beginning of allVOBs becomes odd-first.

At the reproducing device side, as shown in FIG. 21, the data ofodd-first identifier 199 and odd-first identifier 202 by even-firsttransformation are reproduced. As shown at step 203, checking ifprogressive signal reproduction or not, if Yes, at step 204, theodd-first identifier of the second video signal is changed to aneven-first identifier 200 a, and is sent into an interlace transformingunit 71 b of the MPEG decoder. If No, the identifier is not changed. Inthe interlace transforming unit 71 b, since the field of the line isissued first from the frame image of the second video signal, theeven-first image is issued. In the combining unit 90, the even-firstimage of the second video signal and the odd-first image of the firstvideo signal are combined, and a normal progressive image is issued. Inthis method, the beginning of all interleaved blocks becomes odd-first,and the seamless multi-angle video is reproduced normally in the DVDstandard reproducing device. In the case of seamless multi-anglereproduction, since the beginning of each interleaved block is limitedto odd-first, dummy field is not required in this method, and hence therecording efficiency is not lowered.

In this second method of aligning the odd-first lines, the first videosignal can be reproduced normally also in the existing reproducingdevice. However, when interlace transformed according to the odd-firstidentifier of the second video signal in the existing reproducingdevice, odd and even fields are inverted, and videos of poor qualitylowered in resolution are issued. To avoid this, by the second videosignal output limiting information adding unit explained in FIG. 40,when reproducing with the conventional reproducing device, by recordingthe information for limiting the reproduction of the second video signalwithin the DVD standard in the optical disk 85, the second video signalis not reproduced in the existing reproducing device, and presentationof uncomfortable video to the user can be avoided.

In this recording device, when compressing a pair of field images ofodd-first image and transformed odd-first image by variable coding incompressing units 81 a, 82 b, if motion detection and compensation aredone separately, block distortion appears separately when encodinghard-to-compress images, and the decoded image is dirty when combinedinto progressive signal. To avoid this, in the invention, by employingthe same motion vector and encoding the motion compensation by the samemotion detection compensating unit 205, when two fields are decoded, theblock distortions are aligned and are hence less obvious. At the sametime, the encoding load decreases.

The operation of the AV synchronous control unit 158 is described. Sincethe AV synchronous control unit is one of the most important units inthe invention, and is hence described in particular detail.

The operation of the system control unit 21 in FIG. 5 is described.First, the system control unit 21 judges if the optical disk is set(inserted) in the DVD reproducing device or not. When setting isdetected, by controlling the mechanical control unit and signal controlunit, the disk rotation is controlled until stable reading is achieved,and the optical pickup is moved when stabilized, and the volumeinformation file shown in FIG. 28 is read out.

Furthermore, the system control unit 21 reproduces the program chaingroup for volume menu according to the volume menu managementinformation in the volume information file in FIG. 28. When reproducingthis program chain group for volume menu, the user can designate thenumbers of desired audio data and sub-video data. Reproduction ofprogram chain for volume menu in reproduction time of optical disk maybe omitted if not necessary depending on the application of multimediadata.

The system control unit 21 reproduces and displays the program chaingroup for title menu according to the tile group management informationin the volume information file, reads out the file managementinformation of the video file including the title selected according tothe selection by the user, and branches into program chains of the titlebeginning. Further, this program chain group is reproduced.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart showing the detailed procedure of reproducingprocess of the program chain group by the system control unit 21. InFIG. 29, at steps 235 a, 235 b, 235 c, first, the system control unit 21reads out the corresponding program chain information from the programchain information table of volume information file or video file. Atstep 235 d, if program chain is not finished, the process advances tostep 235 e.

Consequently, at step 235 e, referring to the seamless connectioninstruction information of the cell to be transferred next in theprogram chain information, it is judged whether the connection betweenthe present cell and the immediately preceding cell is for seamlessconnection or not, and if seamless connection is judged necessary, theprocess advances to step 235 f for seamless connection process, and ifseamless connection is not necessary, the process advances to ordinaryconnection process.

At step, 235 f, reading the DSI packet by controlling the mechanicalcontrol unit and signal processing unit, the VOB reproduction end time(VOB.sub.13 E.sub.13 PTM) existing in the DSI packet of the celltransferred first, and the VOB reproduction start time (VOB_S_PTM)existing in the DSI packet of the cell to be transferred next are readout.

At the next step 235 h, calculating “VOB reproduction end time(VOB_E_PTM)—VOB reproduction start time (VOB_S_PTM), it is transferredas the STC offset of this cell and the cell transferred immediatelybefore, to the STC offset combining unit 164 in the AV synchronouscontrol unit 158 in FIG. 30.

At the same time, at step 235 i, the VOB reproduction end time(VOB_E_PTM) is transferred to the STC changeover timing control unit 166as changeover time T4 of the STC changeover switch 162 e.

It is instructed to the mechanical control unit so as to read out thedata until the final position of the cell. As a result, the data of thecorresponding cell is transferred to the track buffer 23 at step 235 j,and as soon as the transfer is over, the program chain information atstep 235 c is read out.

At step 235 e, if judged not to be seamless connection, transfer to thetrack buffer 23 is effected up to the end of the system stream, and theprogram chain information at step 235 c is read out.

Next are explained two embodiments relating to AV synchronous controlmethod of the seamless connection control for seamless reproduction inthe invention. These are detailed explanation about the AV synchronouscontrol unit 158 in FIG. 26 and FIG. 39.

The system decoder 161, audio decoder 160, video decoders 69 c, 69 d,and sub-video decoder 159 in FIG. 39 are all synchronized with thesystem time clock given from the AV synchronous control unit in FIG. 30,and the data in the system stream is processed.

In a first method, referring to FIG. 30, the AV synchronous control unit158 is explained.

In FIG. 30, the AV synchronous control unit is composed of STCchangeover switches 162 a, 162 b, 162 c, 162 d, STC 163, STC offsetcombining unit 164, STC setting unit 165, and STC changeover timingcontrol unit 166.

The STC changeover switches 162 a, 162 b, 162 c, 162 d, 162 e changeover the output value of the STC 163 and output value of the STC offsetcombining unit 164 as reference clock to be given respectively to thesystem decoder 161, audio decoder 160, main video decoder 69 c,sub-video decoder 69 d, and sub-video decoder 159.

The STC 163 is a reference clock for the entire MPEG decoder in FIG. 39in ordinary reproduction.

The STC offset combining unit 164 continues to issue the value ofsubtracting the STC offset value given from the system control, from thevalue of the STC 163.

The STC setting unit 165 sets STC initial value given from the systemcontrol unit or the STC offset combined value given from the STC offsetcombining unit 164, to the STC 163 at the timing given from the STCchangeover timing control unit 166.

The STC changeover timing control unit 166 controls the STC changeoverswitches 162 a to 162 e and STC setting 165 on the basis of the STCchangeover timing information given from the system control unit and theSTC offset combined value given from the STC offset combining unit 164.

The STC offset value is an offset value used when changing the STC valuewhen continuously reproducing by connecting system stream #1 and systemstream #2 having different STC initial values.

More specifically, it is obtained by subtracting the “VOB reproductionstart time (VOB_S_PTM)” described in the DSI of the system stream #2 tobe reproduced next, from the “VOB reproduction end time (VOB_E_PTM)”described in the DSI packet of the system stream #1 reproduced in thefirst place. Such information of display time is calculatedpreliminarily by reading out by the system control unit 167 when thedata being readout from the optical disk in FIG. 5 is put into the trackbuffer 23.

The calculated offset value is given to the STC offset combining unit164 until the final pack of the system stream #1 is fed into the systemdecoder 161.

The data decoding processing unit 165 in FIG. 5 operates as an MPEGdecoder except when controlling seamless connection. The STC offsetgiven from the system control unit 167 at this time is 0 or an arbitraryvalue, and the STC changeover switches 162 a to 162 e in FIG. 30 arealways selected at the STC 163 side.

Referring to the flowchart in FIG. 38, changeover of STC changeoverswitches 162 a to 162 e and operation of STC 163 at the junction of thesystem streams are explained below in the case two system streams notcontinuous in the STC value, system stream #1 and system stream #2, areentered continuously in the system decoder 161.

Explanations of SCR, APTS, VPTS, VDTS of the system stream #1 and systemstream #2 to be entered are omitted.

Suppose the STC initial value corresponding to the system stream #1during reproduction is preliminarily set in the STC 163 from the STCsetting unit 165 and is being counted up sequentially along thereproduction operation. First, the system control unit 167 (FIG. 5)calculates the STC offset value by the method mentioned above, and setsthis value in the STC offset combining unit 164 until the final pack ofsystem stream #1 is put in the decoder buffer. The STC offset combiningunit 164 continues to issue the subtraction value of the STC offsetvalue from the value of the STC 163 (step 168 a).

The STC changeover timing control unit 166 obtains the time T1 when thefinal pack in the system stream #1 reproduced first is put into thedecoder buffer, and changes over the STC changeover switch 162 a to theoutput side of the STC offset combining unit 164 at time T1 (step 168b).

Thereafter the output of the STC offset combining unit 164 is given tothe STC value the system decoder 161 refers to, and the transfer timingof the system stream #2 to the system decoder 161 is determined by theSCR described in the pack header of system stream #2.

The STC changeover timing control unit 166 obtains the time T2 whenreproduction of final audio frame of system stream #1 reproduced firstis terminated, and changes over the STC changeover switch 162 b to theoutput side of the STC offset combining unit 164 at time T2 (step 168c). The method of obtaining time T2 is described below.

Thereafter the output of the STC offset combining unit 164 is given tothe STC value the audio decoder 160 refers to, and the audio outputtiming of the system stream #2 is determined by the APTS described inthe audio packet of system stream #2.

The STC changeover timing control unit 166 obtains the time T3, T′3 whendecoding of final video frame of main signal and sub-signal of systemstream #1 reproduced first is terminated, and changes over the STCchangeover switches 162 c, 162 d to the output side of the STC offsetcombining unit 164 at time T3, T'3 (step 168 d). The method of obtainingtime T3 is described below. Thereafter the output of the STC offsetcombining unit 164 is given to the STC value the system decoders 69 c,69 d refer to, and the timing of video decoding of the system stream #2is determined by the VPTS described in the video packet of system stream#2. The STC changeover timing control unit 166 obtains the time T4 whenreproduction output of final video frame of system stream #1 reproducedfirst is terminated, and changes over the STC changeover switch 162 e tothe output side of the STC offset combining unit 164 at time T4 (step168 e). The method of obtaining time T4 is described below.

Thereafter the output of the STC offset combining unit 164 is given tothe STC value the video output changeover switch 169 and sub-videodecoder 159 refer to, and the timing of video output and sub-videooutput of system stream #2 is determined by VPTS and SPTS described inthe video packet and sub-video packet of system stream #2.

When changeover of these STC changeover switches 162 a to 162 e is over,the STC setting unit 165 sets the value given from the STC offsetcombining unit 164 in the STC 162 (step 168 f) (which is calledreloading of STC 163), and all switches at steps 162 a to 162 e arechanged over to the STC 163 side (step 168 g).

Thereafter the output of the STC 163 is given to the STC value the audiodecoder 160, video decoders 69 d, 69 c, video output changeover switch169, and sub-video decoder 159 refer to, and the operation returns tothe normal state.

Herein, two means are mentioned as the method of obtaining the time T1to T4 as the STC changeover timing.

In the first means, since the time T1 to T4 can be easily calculatedwhen creating the stream, the information expressing the time T1 to T4is described in the disk preliminarily, and the system control unit 21reads it out and transmits to the STC changeover timing control unit166.

In particular, as for T4, the “VOB reproduction end time (VOB_E_PTM)”recorded in the DSI used when determining the STC offset can be directlyused.

The value to be recorded at this time is described on the basis of theSTC value used in the system stream #1 reproduced first, and the momentthe count-up value of STC 163 becomes the time T1 to T4, the STCchangeover timing control unit 166 changes over the STC changeoverswitches 162 a to 162 e.

In the second means, the timing for reading out is obtained from thetiming of writing beginning data of system stream #2 into the trackbuffer 23, video decoder buffers 171, 171 a, and audio decoder buffer172.

Assuming the track buffer 23 to be a ring buffer composed of writepointer, read pointer, and data memory, more specifically, the systemcontrol unit 21 is designed to read out the address indicated by thewrite pointer and the address indicated by the read pointer in the trackbuffer 23, and the moment when the pack written immediately before isread out is detected from the address indicated by the write pointer andthe address indicated by the read pointer when the target pack iswritten in.

The system control unit 21 designates and reads out the beginningaddress of the system stream #2 on the optical disk when transferringfrom system stream #1 to reproduction of system stream #2, so that themoment when the beginning data of the system stream #2 is stored in thetrack buffer 23 is known. Consequently, by marking the address where thebeginning pack of the system stream #2 is written, the moment when onepack before is read out completely is supposed to be T1, and the time T1is obtained.

The system control unit 21, the moment T1 is obtained, notices it to thevideo decoders 69 c, 69 d and audio decoder 160, and therefore the videodecoders 69 c, 69 d and audio decoder 160 can know that the beginningpacket of system stream #2 is transferred to the video buffer 171 andaudio buffer 172 in the subsequent transfer.

Thus, by managing each decoder buffer same as the buffer management ofthe track buffer 21, the two video decoders 69 c, 69 d and audio decoder160 obtain T2, T3 the moment the final packet of system stream #1 istransferred In detection of T1, however, if all data are read out fromthe video decoder buffer 171 or audio decoder buffer 172 (right afterdecoding of final frame of system stream #1) and data to be written inhas not reached yet (the transfer time between packs is vacant), sincethere is no data to be written in, the address cannot be managed. Inthis case, too, since the packet of the frame to be decoded next issecurely transferred until the next decoding timing (the decoding timingof the beginning frame of system stream #2), the changeover timing isknown by defining the packet transfer moment to be T2 or T3.

As for T4, as mentioned above, the “display end time (VOB_E_PTM) offinal frame of video of system stream #1” described in the DSI packetmay be used directly.

A second seamless reproduction method is described below.

FIG. 31 is a diagram showing the timing of reproduction output of thesystem stream from input in the data decoding processing unit in FIG. 38through decoder buffer and decoding process. Referring to FIG. 31,changes of values of APTS and VPTS in the portion for connecting systemstream #1 and system stream #2 are explained, and the method of AVsynchronous control in the seamless connection portion in the operationfor actually processing the stream is described.

Next, referring to the graph in FIG. 31, the method of seamlessconnection control according to the flow in the flowchart in FIG. 43 isdescribed.

Start timing of seamless connection control is obtained in the SCR graphin FIG. 31(3). The period of continuous increase of SCR value in thisgraph corresponds to the period of transfer of system stream #1 from thetrack buffer 23 (FIG. 5) to the data decoding processing unit 16 (FIG.5), and the value of SCR is 0 only at point G when transfer of systemsteam #1 is over and transfer of system stream #2 is started. Therefore,by judging point G when SCR value becomes 0, it is known that a newsystem stream #2 is put into the data decoding processing unit 16, andat this point (time Tg), the synchronous mechanism control unit cancancel (turn off) the AV synchronous mechanism of the reproductionoutput unit.

Detection of SCR value of 0 is also possible after processing of thesignal read out from the optical disk, or when writing into the trackbuffer 23. The AV synchronous mechanism may be turned off on the basisof detection at this point.

As for the timing for starting (turning on) the AV synchronous mechanismonce turned off, to prevent mismatched reproduction of audio and video,it is necessary to know that both audio output and video output includedin system stream #1 are changed to a new system stream #2. The moment ofchange of audio output to a new system stream #2 is known by detectingpoint H when increase of APTS value is suspended. Similarly, the momentof change of video output to a new system stream #2 is known bydetecting point I when increase of VPTS value is suspended. Therefore,the synchronous mechanism control unit can resume AV synchronismimmediately (at time Ti) after detection of appearance of both point Hand point I.

When the value of SCR is not set in the STC in the period from time Tgto time Ti, or when the value of APTS and value of VPTS are compareddirectly, the off period of AV synchronous mechanism may be furthershortened.

For this purpose, by monitoring both values of APTS of audio output dataand VPTS of video output data issued from the data decoding processingunit 16, when either value begins to decrease first, it is detected, andthe AV synchronism mechanism is turned off immediately, that is, at timeTh in FIG. 31.

However, as explained herein, when judging the timing by detecting ifincrease of the value of APTS and value of VPTS is continuing or not, itis evident that the value of APTS and value of VPTS are sure to decreasewhen the system stream is connected. In other words, it is enough whenthe final values of APTS and VPTS in the system stream are larger thanthe initial maximum values of APTS and VPTS in the system stream.

The maximum values of initial values of APTS and VPTS(.DELTA.Tad.DELTA.Tvd in the diagram) are determined as follows.

The initial values of APTS and VPTS are the sums of the time for storingvideo data and audio data in the video buffer and audio buffer, and thevideo reorder (in the MPEG video, the decoding sequence and displaysequence of picture are not matched, and display is delayed by onepicture at maximum as compared with decoding). Therefore, the sums ofthe time required for the video buffer and audio buffer until filled up,and the display delay (time of one frame) due to video reorder are themaximum values of initial values of APTS and VPTS.

To create the system stream, hence, it may be composed so that the finalvalues of APTS and VPTS in the system stream may exceed these values.

In the embodiment, so far, as for the judging standard of turn-on timingof AV synchronous mechanism after system stream connection, the methodof judging if the values of APTS and VPTS are increasing or not ismentioned, but it is also possible to realize by the following judgmentof threshold. First, at the reproducing device side, the audio thresholdand video threshold shown in the graphs in FIGS. 31(4) and (5) aredetermined. These values are equal to maximum values of initial valuesof APTS and VPTS in the system stream, and same as the maximum valuesmentioned above.

The values of APTS and VPTS read by the APTS reading means and VPTSreading means are judged to be less than the audio threshold and videothreshold or not. If the values APTS and VPTS are larger than the audiothreshold and video threshold, data are not changed to the output dataof new system stream, and if smaller, output data of a new system streamis started, so that OFF or ON timing of AV synchronous mechanism isknown.

By such on/off control of the AV synchronous mechanism, seamlessreproduction without disturbance in reproduction state is realized atthe junction of system streams.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

By dividing basic video signal and interpolating video signal in framegroups of one GOP or more each, and recording on an optical disk asinterleaved blocks 54, 55 by interleaving alternately, in a progressive(stereoscopic) applicable type reproducing device, progressive(stereoscopic) videos can be obtained by reproducing information of bothright and left interleaved blocks of odd fields (for the right eye) andeven fields (for the left eye). In the progressive (stereoscopic)non-applicable type reproducing device, when a disk recordingprogressive (stereoscopic) videos is reproduced, by reproducing theinterleaved block of only odd fields (for the right eye) or even fields(for the left eye) either by jumping tracks, a perfect ordinarytwo-dimensional video can be obtained. Thus, mutual compatibility isrealized.

In particular, by using an arrangement information file of progressive(stereoscopic) video, progressive (stereoscopic) video identifiers arerecorded in the optical disk. It is therefore easy to judge where theprogressive (stereoscopic) video is present, and it is effective toavoid progressive reproduction of two ordinary interlace signals, oroutputs of images of two difference contents by mistake into the righteye and left eye of the stereoscopic television.

In the stereoscopic video applicable reproducing device, using thepointer used in two dimensions, the method of the invention for changingthe access procedure is employed only when the stereoscopic videoidentifier is present, so that the stereoscopic videos can be reproducedcontinuously. Hence the stereoscopic video applicable reproducing devicecan be realized without changing the two-dimensional format.

REFERENCE NUMERALS

-   1 Optical disk-   2 Recording device-   3 MPEG encoder-   4 Interleave circuit-   5 R frame circuit-   6 R frame group-   7 L frame circuit-   8 L frame group-   9 Recording circuit-   10 Stereoscopic video arrangement information-   11 R track-   12 L track-   13 Address circuit-   14 Stereoscopic image arrangement table-   15 Optical head-   16 MPEG decoder-   17 Video output unit-   18 Audio output unit-   19 Input unit-   20 Channel selector-   21 Control unit-   22 Track control circuit-   23 Buffer circuit-   24 Optical reproducing circuit-   25 SW circuit-   26 Stereoscopic video arrangement information reproducing unit-   27 SW circuit-   28 RL mixing circuit-   29 R output unit-   30 L output unit-   31 Video output unit-   32 Audio output unit-   33 “Stereoscopic” display signal output unit-   34 Motor-   35 Rotating speed changing circuit-   36 Combining unit-   37 Double clock generating circuit-   38 Separator-   39 Memory-   40 2D reproducing device-   41 Stereoscopic channel output control unit-   42 Display unit-   43 3D applicable reproducing device-   44 First frame group-   45 Second frame group-   46 First time domain-   47 Second time domain-   48 Even field signal-   49 Odd field signal-   50 Step of stereoscopic display output procedure-   51 Reproducing step of stereoscopic video logic arrangement table-   52 Stereoscopic video logic arrangement table-   53 Stereoscopic video logic arrangement file-   54 R interleave block-   55 L interleave block-   56 First Interleave block-   57 Second Interleave block-   58 Third interleave block-   59 Fourth interleave block-   60 Pointer-   61 Stereoscopic identifier-   62 Step of pointer access-   65 Reproducing device-   66 First interleave block-   67 Second interleave block-   68 Separator-   69 Expanding unit-   70 Frame video signal-   71 Field separator-   72 Odd field signal-   73 Even field signal-   74 Interlace signal-   75 Progressive video signal-   76 Combining unit-   77 Combined signal-   78 Separator-   79 Odd interlace signal-   80 Even interlace signal-   81 Frame signal-   82 Compressing unit-   83 Compressed signal-   84 Interleave block-   85 Optical disk (progressive signal)-   86 Reproducing device-   87 Separator-   88 Expanding unit-   89 Frame signal-   90 Combining unit-   91 Channel A-   92 Channel B-   93 Progressive signal-   94 Progressive video output unit-   95 Reproducing unit-   96 Compressive filter-   97 Signal for right eye-   98 Signal for left eye-   99 Recording device-   101 Combining unit-   102 Frame signal-   103 Compressing unit-   104 Reproducing device-   105 Output transforming unit-   106 Optical disk (progressive/stereoscopic)-   107 Reproducing device-   108 Interleave block-   109 Separator-   110 Progressive output unit-   111 First stream-   112 Second stream-   113 Interleave unit-   114 Video separator-   115 Video separator-   116 Differential unit-   117 Recording stream-   118 First VOB-   119 Second VOB-   120 Dummy field generating means-   121 Dummy field-   122 Dummy field adding means-   123 Frame encoding unit-   124 Field encoding unit-   125 Field pair-   126 Field pair-   127 Frame encoding signal-   128 Frame encoding signal-   129 Field encoding signal-   130 Offset time-   131 Buffer unit-   132 Dummy field detour means-   133 Synchronizing means-   134 Audio signal-   135 Progressive process changeover unit-   136 Interlace signal-   137 Encoded information detour means-   138 Step (dummy field)-   139 Interlace transforming unit-   140 Interlace interference removing means-   140 a Interlace interference image detecting means-   141 Interlace interference removing filter-   142 Vertical direction filter-   143 Filter bypass route-   144 Interlace interference removal filtering identifier-   145 Direct interlace output-   146 Double speed command-   147 Control unit-   148 Interlace TV-   149 Judgment changeover unit-   150 Operation input unit-   151 Slow, still picture reproducing means-   152 Frame processing unit-   153 Step (interlace/progressive/interlace transformation)-   154 Video (scope size)-   155 Optical disk (seamless progressive)-   156 Track jump-   157 Track jump (seamless)-   158 AV synchronous control unit-   159 Sub-picture decoder-   160 Audio decoder-   161 System decoder-   162 STC (system clock) changeover switch-   163 STC generating unit-   164 STC offset combining unit-   165 STC setting unit-   166 STC changeover timing control unit-   168 Step (flowchart of AV synchronous control)-   169 Video output changeover switch-   170 Progressive transforming unit-   171 Video decoder buffer-   172 Audio decoder buffer-   173 Wide screen combining unit-   174 3-2 transforming unit-   175 Interlace transforming unit-   176 525P/720P transforming unit-   177 720P screen-   178 Scope screen-   179 Combined image-   180 Interlace image-   181 Progressive image-   182 Progressive image-   183 525 progressive video-   184 525 interlace video-   185 Complementary information-   187 Optical disk-   188 Stream-   189 Image separator-   190 Horizontal separation screen-   191 Optical disk (horizontal separation)-   192 Vertical direction separator-   193 Horizontal direction separator-   194 Horizontal, vertical direction separator-   195 Line memory-   196 Adder-   197 Jumping time-   198 Track buffer capacity-   199 Odd-first identifier-   200 Even-first identifier-   201 Even to odd identifier transforming unit-   202 Odd-first identifier (after transformation)-   203 Step (progressive judgment)-   204 Step (odd/even transformation)-   205 Motion detection/compensation unit-   206 Horizontal filter-   207 Image horizontal direction separator-   208 Image-   209 Horizontal separating means-   210 Vertical separating means-   211 Image-   212 Vertical filter-   213 Aliasing distortion generating region-   214 Time vertical filter-   215 Progressive output unit-   216 Cell-   217 Provider defined stream-   218 Progressive identifier-   219 Resolution identifier-   220 Differential identifier-   221 Sub-stream number information-   222 Video identifier-   223 Stereoscopic identifier-   224 Management information-   225 Reproducing procedure control information-   226 VOB-   227 VOB (simul-cast)-   228 Interleave block separator-   229 NTSC decoder-   230 Changeover unit-   231 HDTV decoder-   232 Audio data-   233 Interleave block separator-   234 Time stamp adder

What is claimed:
 1. A decoding method for decoding a plurality ofstreams, the decoding method comprising: each of the streams beingobtained by encoding i) a stereoscopic picture which includes a left eyeimage and a right eye image or ii) a non-stereoscopic picture; at leastone of the streams including a stereoscopic picture identifierrepresenting that an encoded picture is the stereoscopic picture or thenon-stereoscopic picture; obtaining stereoscopic video arrangementinformation which represents whether or not the plurality of streamsinclude the stereoscopic picture, and the stereoscopic video arrangementinformation is separated from the plurality of streams; determiningwhether the plurality of streams include the stereoscopic picture basedon the stereoscopic video arrangement information; when the stereoscopicvideo arrangement information represents that the streams include thestereoscopic picture; obtaining the stereoscopic picture identifier;when the obtained stereoscopic picture identifier represents that theencoded picture is the stereoscopic picture; decoding the encodedpicture and generating a decoded picture; outputting the decoded pictureas the stereoscopic picture; when the obtained stereoscopic pictureidentifier represents that the encoded picture is the non-stereoscopicpicture; decoding the encoded picture and generating the decodedpicture; outputting the decoded picture as the non-stereoscopic picture,when the stereoscopic video arrangement information represents thestreams do not include the stereoscopic picture, decoding the encodedpicture and generating the decoded picture; outputting the decodedpicture as the non-stereoscopic picture without outputting the decodedpicture as the stereoscopic picture.
 2. A decoding device for decoding aplurality of streams, the decoding method comprising: at least one ofthe streams being obtained by encoding i) a stereoscopic picture whichincludes a left eye image and a right eye image or ii) anon-stereoscopic picture; the stream including a stereoscopic pictureidentifier representing that an encoded picture is the stereoscopicpicture or the non-stereoscopic picture; an obtaining unit operable toobtain stereoscopic video arrangement information which representswhether or not the streams include the stereoscopic picture, wherein thestereoscopic video arrangement information is separated from theplurality of streams, and to determine whether the plurality of streamsinclude the stereoscopic picture based on the stereoscopic videoarrangement information; when the stereoscopic video arrangementinformation represents the streams include the stereoscopic picture;obtaining unit operable to obtain the stereoscopic picture identifier;when the obtained stereoscopic picture identifier represents that theencoded picture is the stereoscopic picture; a decoding unit operable todecode the encoded picture and generate a decoded picture; a outputtingunit operable to output the decoded picture as the stereoscopic picture;when the obtained stereoscopic picture identifier represents that theencoded picture is the non-stereoscopic picture; the decoding unitoperable to decode the encoded picture and generating the decodedpicture; the outputting unit operable to output the decoded picture asthe non-stereoscopic picture without outputting the decoded picture asthe stereoscopic picture, when the stereoscopic video arrangementinformation represents that the streams do not include the stereoscopicpicture, the decoding unit operable to decode the encoded picture andgenerating the decoded picture; the outputting unit operable to outputthe decoded picture as the non-stereoscopic picture without outputtingthe decoded picture as the stereoscopic picture.